Nature must have its own voice through digital technologies

Rossiyskaya Gazeta: Anastasia Vasilyevna, what tasks is domestic business solving today to achieve the national development goals defined by the decree of the President of Russia?

Anastasia Fedotova: First of all, we see our task as comprehensively supporting the achievement of national goals through financial and technological solutions. Our approach combines our own investments, the provision of green loans and services for business with the creation of an ecosystem of partnerships.

Today, for a company of any size, sustainable development is becoming not just good form, but a competitiveness factor. Businesses are reviewing strategies, introducing new technologies and developing a culture of responsibility. Sber helps its client companies by offering an entire ecosystem of solutions from responsible financing and non-credit products to digital tools, including the development of technologies for sustainable development based on artificial intelligence (AI).

RG: To what extent does the business’s work on implementing sustainable development principles, which it has been doing for several years, help in achieving national goals?

AF: According to our estimates, more than 70 percent of the indicators for achieving Russia's national development goals are directly related to the objectives of the sustainable development agenda, which is the focus of business. Here is a direct link between sustainable development and the implementation of national goals. The future of the economy is built on improving the quality of human life, taking into account their long-term interests. Therefore, we are convinced that sustainable development remains the most important component of the Russian economy. In accordance with these principles, in 2024 we updated our development strategy, the focus of which is people and their needs. Our priority is to use sustainable and digital solutions to give people the opportunity to unlock their potential, to be a reliable assistant in solving their life problems.

RG: The regions of Russia play a key role in the development of the country. How do you work with the subjects of the Russian Federation, how do you help them?

AF: We support the regions by participating in significant projects aimed at solving urgent social and economic problems. For example, by the end of 2024, our portfolio of financing public-private partnership projects amounted to more than 194 billion rubles. Thanks to these funds, new hospitals, schools, recreation areas, and cultural institutions appeared. In addition, in 2024, the bank implemented 24 comprehensive regional projects in the field of sustainable development in 19 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. In 2024-2025, our projects are mainly focused on digitalization and the implementation of AI solutions to improve people's lives. AI transformation centers have been opened in 30 regions, and AI Centers supported by us are operating in 5 regions.

For example, together with Sverdlovsk Railways, we are implementing digital technologies that improve the quality of transport and logistics services for cargo owners, as well as the level of passenger service. In addition, 670 transport companies from the Irkutsk Region, Transbaikalia, Buryatia and Yakutia use a digital industry solution developed on the basis of the Sber platform.

The Ulyanovsk Regional Water Utility has implemented a system of end-to-end analytics of the enterprise's activities using AI tools. Our AI technologies are being successfully implemented in hotels in the Kemerovo and Novosibirsk regions and in the Altai Territory. The first Center for Industry Expertise in Electrical Engineering in the country has been created in Chuvashia with the support of Sber.

We actively promote the development of education in the regions. The AI Start project helps teachers launch AI technology clubs. In 2024, 930 teachers from 81 regions of the Russian Federation, as well as from Belarus and Kazakhstan, applied. Campuses of School 21, a free school of programming and digital technologies for people over 18, have been launched. It already has more than 8.4 thousand active participants, and 100 percent of graduates find employment upon completion of their studies.

RG: You have given examples of the use of new technologies. How actively are they being implemented and what role do they play in implementing the sustainable development agenda?

AF : The new economy will be built on satisfying human needs, taking into account their long-term interests, building trusting and long-term relationships. The advantages of AI will be an indispensable assistant here. We want to reach the point where the vast majority of our decisions are made automatically based on AI.

We have already implemented artificial intelligence in 85 percent of the bank's internal processes. Online banking, virtual assistants, chatbots, robot lawyers, biometrics and many other innovations have become familiar to our clients. Digital solutions can directly influence the implementation of almost 80 percent of sustainable development tasks. Modern tools (AI, satellites, digital twins) make it possible to predict environmental crises (desertification, soil degradation, water deficit), optimize resource use, assess the economic consequences of environmental changes, for example, how the loss of biodiversity will affect crop yields or public health. Therefore, today it is important to focus on the development of digital platforms for monitoring and protecting forests, soils and water resources in real time. Nature should not only be protected by people, but also receive its own voice through digital technologies in order to influence global processes.

RG: What technologies for sustainable development is Sber developing? Where and how are they applied?

AF: Our models allow us to accurately calculate the credit and insurance risks of the bank and counterparty in connection with climate change, which helps to build the right development strategy. For example, when arranging insurance for legal entities, we provide the opportunity to include environmental risks, among other things. This reduces our losses, among other things, by about one billion rubles per year.

We carefully study climate change, as we work with all regions of the country. Together with scientists from federal institutes, we have developed a number of digital solutions based on AI. For example, to predict drought over a short time horizon (several months), which is very difficult. These models have already been tested on data from five territories located in different climatic zones. In addition, we pay attention to preserving biodiversity in our country. For the Amur Tiger Center, together with Novosibirsk State University, we have developed a model that allows us to keep track of the Amur tiger population in Russia. Foreign scientists from Asia, Africa and Latin America have already shown interest in this development.

RG: The bank recently announced the development of an AI solution that helps combat desertification. Tell us what it is all about?

AF: In Russia, about 120 million hectares of land, almost 7 percent of the country's territory, are subject to degradation and desertification. At the same time, 70 percent of all agricultural products are produced in the risk zone. The critical group includes 14 regions, including the Republic of Kalmykia, where the impact of desertification and soil degradation is especially noticeable. To solve this problem, we developed the AI system for land restoration Verda (in Esperanto, Verda means green). It monitors and evaluates the dynamics of soil change, and in the future will make forecasts and recommend the measures necessary for land restoration. So the introduction of this system helps to solve not only environmental problems, but also, above all, problems of food security of the country. A pilot project conducted in Kalmykia showed that the accuracy of the AI model is already more than 90 percent.

RG: Are responsible financing and non-credit products in demand among clients today?

AF: Sber's responsible financing portfolio, as of the end of July, exceeded 3.9 trillion rubles. We do not expect its "explosive" growth, and have focused, among other things, on improving the line of sustainable products – developing non-credit products for business and retail clients, developing and implementing AI solutions. We currently have more than 30 non-credit business products for sustainable development. Over the year, their sales volume has grown by 2.6 times, and revenue in the first half of 2025 amounted to 3.1 billion rubles. We are also implementing digital tools – from AI models for forecasting climate risks to services for optimizing logistics and energy consumption management.

Sber's revenue from the sale of ESG products for business amounted to 3.1 billion rubles in the first half of 2025

RG: The Bank of Russia is a key regulator and catalyst for growth in the responsible finance market in Russia. How do you think its latest recommendations on corporate reporting, including non-financial reporting, will affect business?

AF: According to the Central Bank itself, its actions are aimed at solving a practical problem – ensuring the growth of stock market capitalization to at least 66 percent of GDP by 2030 and to 75 percent of GDP by 2036. To this end, the Bank of Russia uses "soft regulation" – recommendations for the gradual implementation of a new standard for information disclosure. Several areas of activity new to the Russian market can be identified, where non-financial reporting is beginning to play a significant role. In particular, this includes promoting the growth of shareholder value and the use of non-financial data for financial analytics. It is important to note that the Bank of Russia acts in concert with other market participants who are also actively shaping the new landscape of corporate reporting. The set of non-financial indicators that the regulator works with is part of a broader list being prepared by the Russian Ministry of Economic Development. It can be said that a new stage of corporate reporting has begun in our country. We expect that the introduction of new rules will be gradual. First of all, it will affect companies whose shares are traded on the Moscow Exchange. At the same time, the practice of applying these ratings and standards, such as the EKG rating or the Public Capital Standard, will involve a wider range of companies in this process. Thus, Russia is gradually moving towards mandatory non-financial reporting.

Nature should become not just an object of protection or reporting, but a new class of assets with predictable returns that directly impact the economy and the well-being of the population.

RG: How successfully is the voluntary certification system for low-carbon energy developing in our country?

AF: Sber continues to develop a voluntary green energy certification system, helping companies reduce their carbon footprint. Our platform issues certificates confirming the production of energy from low-carbon sources, which allows businesses to document the environmental friendliness of their activities. At present, 41 companies and 194 renewable energy generation facilities are registered in the register.

Last year, we entered into a strategic partnership with the association "NP Market Council" to improve the system: now the certificates comply with both Russian and international standards. One of the tasks is to achieve mutual recognition of such certificates in China and the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

Mutual recognition of certification systems between Russia and China will reduce the costs of verifying low-carbon goods for exporters of the two countries, and will increase transparency and trust among green energy consumers. Work is currently underway with the Chinese regulator to agree on the main parameters of such cooperation.

RG: How do you assess the prospects for cooperation within the framework of the sustainable development agenda with the BRICS countries?

AF: Today we are witnessing a shift in the center of the global economy from the developed world to the developing world, primarily to the BRICS countries. The alliance states occupy a third of the world's territory, have significant reserves of resources – forests and oil (45 percent), and they also account for about 60 percent of the world's biodiversity and 44 percent of all available water resources. Four countries of the association – China, India, Russia, Brazil – are among the top 10 largest economies in the world, with India and China being the fastest growing.

As for sustainable development, this agenda is of particular importance for the BRICS countries, because it is there that the most important natural regions are located: the Amazon, Siberia, the Indo-Gangetic Plain, etc. Any negative processes in these territories result in huge financial losses, for example, soil degradation in India, China and South Africa brings annual losses of 25-30 billion dollars.

In our opinion, the BRICS countries have every chance and prerequisite to become the leader of global transformations and make a strategic shift in the issue of natural resource management. Nature should become not just an object of protection or reporting, but a new class of assets with predictable profitability that directly affects the economy and well-being of the population. And the assessment and monitoring of environmental indicators – part of the process of making any decision by government agencies or private enterprises. And the key role in this will be played by the joint and widespread implementation of digital solutions.