MOSCOW, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Russia"s largest lender Sberbank (SBER.MM) plans to increase its environmental, social and governance (ESG) loan portfolio by over 40% to 200 billion roubles ($3 billion) this year and then multiply it several times in 2022, an executive told Reuters. Russia is one of the world"s top carbon dioxide emitters along with China, the United States and India, and has set its own goal of carbon neutrality by 2060 - a process in which Russian forests, hydro and nuclear energy should play key roles.The Russian economy is no stranger to the push for ESG financing linked to sustainability targets as its energy and mining companies - some of the biggest state revenue contributors, - have Western shareholders and global hedge funds among investors. "Our loan portfolio is a reflection of Russian gross domestic product," Alexander Vedyakhin, first deputy chairman at the state-run bank, told Reuters. "We will gently push our clients towards green changes but we will not make this an ultimatum."Sberbank is introducing its own, internal ESG metrics allowing clients to access cheaper loans if the criteria are met. "If the company is rightly positioned in regard to ESG then it is stable and is worth investments and loans," he said. The bank"s ESG portfolio is set to grow to 200 billion roubles by year-end from 140 billion now, and "we will grow it multiple times next year", Vedyakhin said. He added that Russian conglomerate Sistema (AFKS.MM), its mobile network unit MTS and others have already raised ESG-linked loans from Sberbank. And if the Russian central bank changes the risk-weights or the provision requirements for ESG loans - something Vedyakhin hopes to see next year - Sberbank may cut rates on such loans even further. State development bank VEB plans to use Sberbank"s ESG metrics in order for borrowers to have unified rules if they want cheaper loans, a VEB executive told Reuters this week, and to stop lending for the raw materials extraction processes. read more Sberbank aims to be part of a yet-to-be developed Russian system to trade carbon credits, and sees the SPB Exchange as the platform to do so, Vedyakhin said. "We are now looking for this role, we will be a market player, perhaps (even) a market maker...We should organise this market, and we have the experience." ($1 = 70.5625 roubles)