Features of Sustainable Development Principles Consolidation in Russian Law

The purpose of the research. The article deals with the problems of reflecting the concept of sustainable development in the Russian legislation. The historical aspects of the formation of this concept in international law are studied, the role of the United Nations in its promotion and development is noted. The main normative legal acts of the Russian Federation reflecting the ideas of sustainable development are considered in order to analyze the nature of the provisions contained in them and assess their effectiveness. Conclusions. The study concluded that there is no single special normative act regulating relations in this area in the Russian Federation, as well as a limited number of sources of national law, generally affecting the issues of achieving sustainable development goals and ESG-agenda implementation. At the same time, a significant role of «soft law» acts (standards, industry recommendations, codes of corporate governance, etc.), which, despite their advisory nature, are important for closing the emerging gap in legal regulation in this area, was noted. Such acts are developed, in particular, by the Bank of Russia and Rosstandart within the limits of their authority, as well as within the framework of initiatives of business associations (primarily, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs) to develop documents designed to ensure the implementation of sustainable development goals and objectives by business community members on a voluntary basis. Among the possible directions of the legislation improvement, it is proposed to get back to the development of the draft federal law «On Public Non-financial Reporting» taking into account the necessity to amend some of its provisions both in terms of the conceptual apparatus and in terms of fixing specific indicators of such reporting.