The aim of this conference was to create a platform for open discussion and fruitful dialogue between Russian and European stakeholders, and an opportunity to identify areas of common interest between the EU and Russia on climate issues.

Andrei Sharonov, President of the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO; Markus Ederer, Ambassador of the European Union to Russia and Ruslan Edelgeriyev, Special envoy of the President of Russia for climate affairs addressed the conference with a welcoming speeches. 

The Key Speaker of the first session was Frans Timmermans, Executive vice-president, European Green Deal, European Commission.

During the first plenary session, participants, including Clara de la Torre, Deputy Director General for Climate Action of the European Commission, Pavel Zavalny, Chairman of the Energy Committee, State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, Karsten Sach, Director General, German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMU) and others, discussed recovery strategies and their impact on decarbonization, Russia's climate goals and action plan within and beyond the Paris Agreement, as well as areas of mutual interest and potential cooperation between the EU and Russia in combating climate change.

The second plenary session focused on corporate decarbonization strategies in the EU and Russia. 

During his presentation at this panel, Tadzio Schilling spoke about the importance of the "green agenda" in the world economy and the impact of the trend on decarbonization and energy efficiency of industries. At the same time, Tadzio noted that even following these trends, many companies face certain challenges: for companies that produce consumer goods, the total carbon footprint of a product is often difficult to measure due to the range of businesses and practices involved in bringing the product to market. However, an increasing number of industries around the world are choosing the green growth path as the most investment attractive and promising.

According to AEB CEO, that efficiency and transformation must be at the heart of EU-Russia cooperation. Foreign investors can bring new opportunities to the Russian economy to respond to the new challenge. For example, this could be the cooperation in the development of smart grids or smart city technologies, as well as the export of green hydrogen, which is becoming more and more common in the EU.

In addition to Tadzio Schilling, among the speakers of the session were:

Olga Pascault, Chair of the Management Board, WEF Russian Chapter

Kimal Yusupov, CEO, Vestas

Antoine Peyrude, CEO of Saint-Gobain Russia, Ukraine and CIS countries

Alexander Chuvaev, General Director Fortum PJSC

Oleg Titov, General Manager, Siemens Energy Russia

Stephane Zweguintzow, Board Chairman, Enel Russia

Marc Girard, Europe Business Solution Director, International Division, EDF.