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A glimpse into Nornickel’s upcoming 2024 ESG report

Social initiatives still remain among the priority action areas with information security issues stepping into the spotlight. The key projects featured include the Sulfur Program, Environmental Monitoring System, Shaping of Cyberculture, Norilsk Renovation and Employee Training.
The company is now working on its 21st ESG report for 2024. Nornickel’s top managers spoke about changes relative to 2023 during the traditional annual Stakeholder Dialogues event.

These Dialogues wrap up the annual survey conducted by the company among stakeholders, including investors and shareholders, partners, employees and ESG experts.
554 respondents
took part in the 2024 survey. This number is 50% greater than the year before and the trend to expand coverage will continue in 2025.
The survey helps the company identify topics to disclose in its ESG reporting in more detail. The reason for this is the number, broad focus and vast geography of the projects which would require many volumes of paper for detailed description. In contrast, a targeted approach is used.

Top three areas most detailed in the company’s 2024 ESG report

Subject Clarifications
Environmental performance Environmental issues are most numerous: the survey has revealed that people are concerned about 8 aspects. Yet, environmental impacts ran second to social policy.
Social policy Includes three action areas:
  1. Employment and decent labor conditions,
  2. Employee training and development,
  3. Contribution to the development of the regions of presence.
Cybersecurity To name 14 most pressing topics, respondents have for the first time prioritized cybersecurity, ranking it 12th in the 14-topic list.

 

Urban ecology

Many of the company’s environmental projects are of federal scale. The most prominent example is the Sulfur Program enabling the company to meet the standards established in the federal Clean Air program in 2024. In 2025, the amount of removed sulfur dioxide emissions from production facilities will double from 2024.

Norilsk welcomed the launch of a two-circuit air quality control system:

  1. 7 sensors on the pipes at industrial facilities,
  2. 16 environmental monitoring stations in Norilsk, Talnakh and Kayerkan to measure sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, carbonic oxide, nitrogen dioxide and dust in the atmosphere and transmit data to the monitoring system.

The municipal monitoring system was put into operation on 25 December 2024, with ownership transferred to the municipal administration. Air quality is evaluated every 20 minutes, with monitoring findings available for public access. Three-color indication is used for convenience: green for zero, yellow for moderate and red for high contamination.
STANISLAV SELEZNEV,
Nornickel Vice President for Environment and HSE:

“For many years now, the air in Norilsk has been much better than a lot of people think. We do not just control our emissions.

We have learned how to work in adverse weather conditions when plume moves towards residential neighborhoods. Using AI-powered technology, we predict the plume migration 2-3 hours ahead and lower our utilization rates. This way, we reduce emissions and remain in the ‘green’ zone“.

“If you look pretty, taste good and come with a lot of nutrients, you have no chance for survival”

Nornickel assists in preserving rare species and never ignores a call to help save a polar bear, whale and other animals. But such help is insignificant to preserve biodiversity in the region. According to Nornickel Vice President for Environment and HSE Stanislav Seleznev, the disappearance of species is not driven by nature, it is a problem of humans. “If you look pretty, taste good and come with a lot of nutrients, you have no chance for survival”.

In 2025, the company plans to apply an Integral Indicator of Ecosystem Health (IIEH) developed by the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences with Nornickel’s support.
To learn about IIEH,
read the article Scientists and businesses discuss viability of quantitative targets in biodiversity conservation.
A single scientifically substantiated methodology will help minimize subjective bias. For example, the distribution of some animal species is not always a positive outcome of biodiversity conservation efforts.

Effects of good-tasting coffee, interesting theatrical performance and comfortable coworking space

The core objective of the company’s social policy is to ensure the welfare of individuals in the regions where NorNickel has operations. However, it’s time to prepare for a tougher judgement from the younger generation: good-tasting coffee, interesting theatrical performances, comfortable coworking spaces and other similar criteria used in common everyday life quality assessments used in large cities will soon apply to industrial towns.

For five years now, the company has been engaging Urban Development Agencies to build an eco-system. This approach helps implement strategic initiatives, expand the expert-based environment, and find and adopt best practices in creating a comfortable urban design.

The project that will transform Norilsk in the next decade is the renovation of the city. Two residential buildings were commissioned in 2024. There has been no new construction in the city since 1980s.
LARISA ZELKOVA,
Nornickel Senior Vice President for HR, Social Policy, and Public Relations:

“Improvement of the quality of life in the cities is a way to address the company’s workforce needs, so Nornickel is investing in this area. In 2025, we will commission several new apartment buildings and the Tower community cultural center in Norilsk”.

Role of Cybersecurity in Sustainable Development

Nornickel Information Protection and IT Infrastructure Director Aleksey Martyntsev speaks about the three aspects of cyber threat prevention:

  1. Industrial safety: prevention of failures or shutdowns of automated operations, an important aspect to support sustainable economic development;
  2. Social security: training for employees and their families on how to identify and overcome fraud. This aspect relates to creating a comfortable social environment and improving the quality of life;
  3. Public sector security: automation protection of all processes in government management and provision of government services to the people. This aspect is important for Russia’s sustainable development.
ALEKSEY MARTYNTSEV,
Nornickel Information Protection and IT Infrastructure Director:

“The primary objective for us today is to mitigate risks associated with operations shutdown, threats to our people’s life and health and environmental pollution“.

Standards applied in ESG reporting

For the first time in its 2024 reporting, the company will apply the standard on nature-related financial disclosures (TNF) and integrate the GRI 14: Mining Sector 2024 standard designed to identify the impacts of mining operations from a sustainable development perspective.

NorNickel continues to pilot the application of IFRS S2 Climate-Related Disclosures and further disclosures under other global standards and initiatives, such as SASB and UNCTAD.
INESSA CHERNOVA,
Head of Sustainable Development Reporting at Nornickel Sustainable Development Department:

“Having analyzed the international standards, we came up with the title for our 2024 report: Well-Being of Future Generations in Line with the National Agenda”.
As of today, the Russian Government has established 7 sustainable development goals until 2030. The report will feature Nornickel’s performance results towards these goals.

The Dialogues are traditionally attended by experts, journalists and representatives from other companies. Many have readily joined to discuss the most pressing topics of the reporting. Participants were open about their willingness to see details of projects to improve the quality of life, engage youth and information security professionals, and indigenous relations practices.
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January, 2025
2025-02-03 15:16 Governance World News