Audit of the ESG reporting of enterprises in the energy and industrial sector of the Russian economy: challenges and problems

The global economy and the international financial architecture responded to the challenges of the climate agenda for sustainable development and the tightening of decarbonization requirements with a request for a systematic analysis of the activities of the industrial and energy to balance economic development, society, and nature. This paper examines the recent trends indicating the increasing interest of investors, regulators, and domestic businesses in achieving sustainable development goals and implementing climate agenda strategies. The applied aspect is distinguished by the development of methodologies, approaches, standards, and formats for the presentation and certification of non-financial information, as well as the formation of institutional structures, such as rating agencies, expert analytical platforms, verifiers, etc. Audit companies play a special role among them. The hypothesis of the study is that the tasks of expanding international relations in the conditions of insufficient auditing of non-financial reporting in Russia may negatively affect the ability to confirm the compliance of industrial and energy companies with the requirements of the ESG agenda. The purpose of the study is to determine the readiness of the auditing and consulting services market to interact with the industrial and energy sectors to disclose systemic interdisciplinary information on climate change actions and the ESG agenda. The object of the study is special auditing and consulting activities related to the disclosure of non-financial statements of enterprises in the industrial and energy sectors of the Russian economy. The subject of the study is the verification and auditing of non-financial statements of Russian enterprises in order to ensure transparency in fulfilling obligations to achieve sustainable development goals and increase energy and industry decarbonization potential. The methodological basis of the study includes content analysis, synthesis, and comparative analytics. The content analysis was based on the data on the activities of audit and consulting companies in the Ural Federal District characterized by a large number of enterprises in the industrial and energy sectors being potential consumers of services to confirm ESG compliance. The study concluded that the auditing and consulting of non-financial reporting are concentrated in the Central Federal District, which is explained by the presence of the parent organizations of major Russian auditing and consulting organizations in this region. Auditing and consulting companies in the Ural Federal District are not ready yet to provide services to confirm the ESG status of industrial and energy enterprises located in the region, which may limit the admission of these enterprises to international markets.