Eurasia Development Becomes the First Russian Company to Sign a Strategic Agreement with China on Green Technology Transfer

Shenzhen. TASS. The Belt and Road Environmental Technology Exchange and Transfer Center (B&RETTC) and Eurasia Development Group (ED) have signed a strategic partnership agreement. The cooperation will focus on attracting financing from Chinese green funds for Russian corporations and developing the transfer of green technologies from China.

The significance of this cooperation for the financial and technological development of Russian businesses is driven by several key factors.

First, despite existing challenges and concerns, the past year confirmed continued demand for ESG transformation among Russian companies. Most corporations continued publishing non-financial reports and participating in ESG ratings. Major issuers including VEB.RF, Rostelecom and Atomenergoprom issued new green and social bonds, while the volume of bank ESG lending even increased in 2022, according to Expert RA.
In addition, the ESG Alliance was established in 2022, bringing together Russian ESG leaders with combined revenues exceeding RUB 10 trillion.

Second, China is one of the world’s leading countries in green development, both in terms of financing volumes and the quality of innovation.
In 2022 alone, China invested more than $545 billion in the green energy transition — three times more than the United States, which ranked second. As a result of this large-scale investment, China already accounts for more than one-third of the world’s installed wind and solar power capacity and around half of the global electric vehicle fleet.
The total size of China’s green finance market — including loans, bonds, subsidies and other instruments — exceeded $3 trillion in the previous year and, according to forecasts, could reach $10.4 trillion by 2031, creating significant opportunities for access to preferential financing.

Third, the Russian economy is undergoing rapid structural transformation and becoming increasingly oriented toward the industrial and financial markets of the Asia-Pacific region, particularly China, which already accounts for 22% of Russia’s foreign trade turnover.
At the same time, the “pivot to the East” will not necessarily lead to weaker environmental standards for Russian exporters. ESG requirements in China, which aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, are becoming increasingly stringent.

This means that entering new markets will require Russian companies to actively invest in green technologies and comply with ESG standards in order to attract new sources of financing.
“China’s commitment to sustainable development principles, particularly its growing investment in green technologies, creates new opportunities for Russian business. On the one hand, Russian companies will be able to deploy advanced technologies developed by our Chinese partners in Russia instead of spending time and resources reinventing existing solutions. On the other hand, our strategic agreement will serve as a starting point for a significant expansion of yuan-denominated investment in promising technologies developed by Russian companies,” said Andrey Prokhorovich, CEO of Eurasia Development Group.

Cooperation between the technology park and Eurasia Development Group is expected to proceed in two stages. The first stage will focus on bringing Chinese green technologies to the markets of Russia and the CIS.

The second stage will involve the development of joint solutions for expansion into global markets, as well as attracting green financing for Russian companies from Chinese funds.
According to Eurasia Development Group estimates, over the next 3–5 years, the total volume of such Russia-China cooperation in green technologies and financing could reach RUB 3.5 trillion.

Background

B&RETTC is a national platform for the development of innovation in environmentally friendly and low-carbon technologies.
The technology park was established at the initiative of Xi Jinping and is managed by China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment and the Shenzhen Municipal Government.
It serves as a major platform for the deployment of green technologies. B&RETTC’s objectives include supporting and incubating high-tech companies in the green technology sector, as well as contributing to the international development of green standards and the exchange of best practices.