responsibility


As in the previous year, Sakhalin Energy ranked first in the Environmental Transparency Rating of Russian Oil and Gas Companies. The international producer of liquefied natural gas (LNG), owned by Gazprom, Shell, Mitsubishi and Mitsui outperformed in terms of openness on environmental topics, a clear strategy on environmental responsibility and with concrete measures to decrease the production’s impact on the environment. On the second and third ranks followed Zarubezhneft and Exxon Neftegas Ltd., which also confirmed their leading positions of the previous year.

The rating was conducted for the sixth time already. From the very beginning, CREON Group supported the project as a strategic partner, whereas WWF (Russia) takes responsibility for the methodology and the National Rating Agency carries out the calculation based on publicly available sources. In 2019, the project was part of the EU funded People for Nature project. The government of the Russian Federation supported the event as well: The presentation took place in the government’s Analytical Center in Moscow. This time, 20 oil and gas companies were subject of the rating.

In addition, five companies received diplomas in additional categories: Lukoil was granted for its top performance in terms of environmental transparency, Rosneft was honored for encouraging the most constructive dialogue regarding accidents and controversial situations. For its leadership in mitigating environmental impacts Surgutneftegaz received a diploma, whereas Gazprom Neft was granted for its most dynamic growth of oil recovery. Tatneft has shown the most rapid advancement in the rating, which led to a diploma as well.

CREON Group chairman Dr. Fares Kilzie reminded: “We launched this project in 2013, which turned out to be revolutionary for the industry. The concept we are promoting is a forerunner not only in Russia, but globally. It is hard to acknowledge, but the results of our activity will not be visible today or tomorrow. At present, we are witnessing the changes in the Russian oil & gas business, and the massive efforts of the government and the companies are evident now, alongside a significant and inevitable transformation towards sustainable development. And we as a Group are proud of being part of the process.”

Aleksey Knizhnikov of WWF Russia confirms a significant increase of the companies transparency: “The modern economy is rapidly transforming and today investors and consumers value both the economic component of transactions and the social and environmental responsibility of businesses, which is important for gaining a competitive edge,” points out the WWF Russia Head of the Program for the Business Environmental Responsibility. “For the sixth year in a row, we have seen increasing progress in the companies’ disclosure of environmental performance. According to our estimates, public nonfinancial reporting of oil and gas companies has showed the fastest development in Russia over the last  years and is becoming the basis for dialog with stakeholders on reducing environmental impacts,” he says.

The robustness of the method and the accuracy of calculations were confirmed by the FBK Grant Thornton audit and consulting group. The company performed selective tests of the criteria and analyzed the accuracy of the scores (levels) against the method, returning a favorable opinion. Vladimir Skobarev, Partner and Head of Corporate Governance and Sustainability at FBK Grant Thornton underlined: “The role of sustainability ratings as important tools for external assessment of corporate social responsibility is increasing every year, while the practice of independent confirmation of the ratings themselves, in turn, is a tool to increase trust in them.”

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About:

The Rating of Environmental Responsibility in the Russian Energy Sector has been launched in 2014 as an initiative of the CREON Group and WWF Russia. The project’s objectives were to conduct tangible and comparable information on environmental activities of oil and gas companies. Thanks to the publicity effect of the rating, some influence could be exerted on the companies in Russia, which partly increased transparency, decreased pollutions or developed an environmental risk-management-system. In 2017, the rating was first presented in Europe, also a separate rating of the Kazakh oil and gas companies was conducted.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Russia works with state institutions, companies, experts and local communities to change people’s attitude to nature. The priorities of WWF’s various activities in Russia include the protection and preservation of biodiversity, sustainable forestry and fisheries, the «green economy», environmental governance, climate and energy.

CREON Capital is a fund management company based in Luxembourg. It manages the CREON Energy Fund, which actively invests in energy projects. Green technologies, renewable energy and logistics are among the focus areas of investments. The private equity fund also invests in the processing of gas and the construction of a liquefied natural gas infrastructure.

 

You may DOWNLOAD the rating brochure HERE:

 

For further information please contact:

Maria Dymenko, md@communicationz.ru, +7-985-135-1009

 

Pictures:

Creon Group chairman Fares Kilzie congratulated representatives of Russian oil and gas companies with outstanding results in terms of environmental protection and transparency.

 

Sakhalin Energy ranked first in the rating. The company’s director for environmental protection Andrey Samatov (right) received the diploma from Creon Group chairman Fares Kilzie.

 

The rating on “Environmental Transparency of Russian Oil and Gas Companies” has been conducted for the sixth time in joint cooperation between Creon Capital partner Creon Group and WWF Russia. It aims to push the energy companies forward in order to increase measures on environmental protection, which is increasingly happening.


Currently, one may find merely few topics in European-Russian relations on which a constructive discussion is still possible. Environmental protection is one of these topics. While Russia just like Germany sticks to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the country’s oil and gas producers are striving to become cleaner and greener along their value chains: instead of flaring the associated gas in oil production they process it, areas contaminated with oil are being recultivated. Risk management and accident prevention systems are being implemented. German and European companies provide the necessary technologies and solutions.

In order to awaken the potential of the cooperation and to expand the cooperation, the 2nd summit “Ecological Responsibility in Russia’s Energy Sector” took place on December 5th in Berlin Marriott Hotel. The Moscow-based CREON Group and the group-owned fund management company Creon Capital (Luxembourg) hosted the event. CREON finances “green” projects in the oil and gas industry and accompanies them in execution. The German Eastern Business Association (OAOEV) and the German-Russian Chamber of Commerce supported the event, which attracted around 100 participants.

OAOEV Chairman Michael Harms confirmed that ecology is an issue where Germans and Russians are d’accord. The move to more environmental protection offers opportunities for German companies to sell their equipment. CREON Chairman Fares Kilzie emphasizes that “even in Russia the transformation towards a green economy” has started. “In the 21st century, sustainability in projects in the Russian oil and gas sector will be a crucial factor.” For Creon Capital and its fund, this opens a “new vector for innovative investment” wherefore CREON is looking for partners and know-how in Europe, says Kilzie. “We host this conference in Berlin by purpose, as concepts and solutions for a greener future have culminated here along with the ‘Energiewende’, Germany’s turnaround in energy policy a decade ago.”

To document progress in Russia and also further cooperation this potential, CREON invented the independent transparency rating of oil and gas companies on environmental responsibility five years ago. The results have been presented together with WWF Russia. Ulrich Benterbusch, who oversees the German ‘Energiewende’ at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), described the survey as “very important” and welcomed the establishment of the instrument. At the same time, he sees potential for a greener transport infrastructure: “Natural gas mobility could be an integral part of the energy transition in the transport sector in Germany.” LNG, as an alternative fuel especially for ships and heavy commercial vehicles, is cost-effective and environmentally friendly in the long term, especially as though the admixture of biomethane the CO2-free mobility would become a possibility.

At a panel discussion, Russia’s ex-Minister of Environment Sergej Donskoy, DEA Manager Michael Zettlitzer, Tatyana Minayewa of Wetlands International and Elena Kompasenko (Zarubeshneft) deepened the topic of “ecological responsibility” – and agreed on a conclusion, drown by Donskoy: Of course, there is still room for even more environmental protection in Russia, but it’s going in the right direction. “We are not wizards, but we are learning,” Donskoy said. But every initiative is important.

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CREON is a Moscow-based group of independent consulting and management companies, which has developed a comprehensive expertise in the chemical, energy and commodity processing industries in about 20 years. Luxembourg-based Creon Capital manages a private equity fund that invests in projects in the energy and chemicals sectors, including green technologies and building LNG infrastructure in Europe.

Contact:       Florian Willershausen, Director BD/M/C, fw@creoncapital.lu, Tel. +49-151-16244591

 

Pictures:

 

CREON Capital chairman Fares Kilzie welcomes more than 100 participants to 2nd conference “Ecological responsibility in Russia’s Energy Sector”
Moderator Florian Willershausen (left) in discussion with Ulrich Benterbusch (Federal Ministry of Economy and Energy)
Discussion potential for envionmental cooperation between Russia and Germany (from left to right): Michael Harms, Fares Kilzie, Florian Willershausen, Ulrich Benterbusch
Sergey Donskoy served five years as Russia’s federal minister for ecology until he started to work for Irkutsk Oil Company.


The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Russia and the Luxembourg-based fund management company CREON Capital have agreed to create a «Global Transparency Rating of Oil and Gas Companies». The survey will involve 30 global commodity producers from around the world, it will be focused on their efforts to strengthen their environmental responsibility. Therefore, environmental strategies will be evaluated as well as concrete measures towards more environmental protection in a sector, which is critical for nature and human being. This will be the first worldwide study, which provides transparent and comparable data and information on environmental responsibility in the global oil and gas industry. WWF Russia and CREON Capital signed a declaration on May 25 during the International Economic Forum in Saint Petersburg.

The rating will be presented on several events later this year. Alexey Knizhnikov, WWF Russia’s head of the Environmental Policy program in the Fuel and Energy Complex, said: «The rating will allow us to assess on an annual basis the efficiency and transparency of oil and gas companies in terms of environmental responsibility: the development of renewable energy as an alternative to fossil fuels plays a role as well as activities to conserve biodiversity, the companies’ programs for environmental protection and renaturation.» In the past four years, when WWF and CREON conducted the rating for Russian companies, this format had become a platform of constructive dialogue between energy companies and civil society, Knizhnikov remembered: «Now we want to expand this platform to a global level, and we invite the industry to join the dialogue on ecological responsibility.»

Dr. Fares Kilzie, Chairman of CREON Capital, commented: «Our role as an investment fund is that of the co-investor in environmentally responsible projects, such as the processing of associated gas and the establishment of supply chains for LNG as an environment-friendly alternative to heavy fuel oil and diesel in the transport sector.» For him as a Fund manager it were not only possible and necessary to realize «green» projects, said Kilzie, but also economically reasonable. «We therefore support our partner WWF in every respect in order to promote the topic of ecological responsibility in the global oil and gas industry.»

 

About us:

The Rating of Environmental Responsibility in the Russian Energy Sector has been launched in 2014 as an initiative of the CREON Group and WWF Russia. The project’s objectives were to conduct tangible and comparable information on environmental activities of oil and gas companies. Thanks to the publicity effect of the rating, some influence could be exerted on the companies in Russia, which partly increased transparency, decreased pollutions or developed an environmental risk-management-system. In 2017, the rating was first presented in Europe, also a separate rating of the Kazakh oil and gas companies was conducted.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Russia works with state institutions, companies, experts and local communities to change people’s attitude to nature. The priorities of WWF’s various activities in Russia include the protection and preservation of biodiversity, sustainable forestry and fisheries, the «green economy», environmental governance, climate and energy.

CREON Capital is a fund management company based in Luxembourg. It manages the CREON Energy Fund, which actively invests in energy projects. Green technologies and renewable energy are among the focus areas of investments. The private equity fund also invests in the processing of gas and the construction of a liquefied natural gas infrastructure.

Press Inquiries:

CREON Capital
Florian Willershausen
Director BD & Marcom

Tel. +352 621 235 126
E-Mail: fw@creoncapital.lu
www.zs-rating.ru/

 

Pictures:

Florian Willershausen (CREON Capital, left) and Alexey Knizhnikov (WWF Russia) signed a Memorandum of Understanding, stating that both organizations will conduct a Global Transparency Rating of Oil and Gas Companies: