Nornickel instigated the hearings of the Public Chamber of Norilsk with a comprehensive agenda on the climate and environmental challenges that the region is currently facing. The panel included representatives of the regional authorities and local communities, non-profit organizations, environmental activists, and the corporation’s top management. Along with a variety of issues regarding Norilsk environment and ecology, they also discussed Nornickel’s endeavors to enhance the city’s quality of life.
Prior to the hearings, the panelists examined the area of the 2020 oil spill from a helicopter that also landed near the accident response campground located on the Ambarnaya River, so the participants could evaluate the efficiency of the clean-up campaign. In addition, partakers of the Public Chamber discussions visited the Sulphur Project construction site along with the hall exhibiting Nornickel’s key environmental program concept. These preceding activities assisted in shaping the discussion agenda with a focus on mitigation and rectification of the Nornickel environmental damage and pollution effects.
Alexey Knizhnikov, WWF (World Wildlife Fund) Russia Business Environmental Responsibility Programme Manager, stated during the meeting that WWF always monitors such disastrous cases like the accident at TRR-3. He added that they have monitored the situation since the accident and that Nornickel addressed the pollution and mitigated environmental damage on an exemplary level – the response team had properly set up the booms, and the worst-case scenario had indeed been prevented.
Andrey Bougrov, Nornickel Senior Vice President for Sustainable Development, explained that the company’s environmental strategy for the current year calls for significant efforts in the following six areas:
- fighting climate change
- cleaning air pollution
- cleaning water discharge
- managing waste and tailing dams
- recovering soil
- sustaining biodiversity
Mr. Bourgov also mentioned Nornickel’s plans to use the platform of the Norilsk Public Chamber to set up regular meetings to discuss the milestones of the strategy delivery process. He added that this is crucial for the company’s relations with its investors, environmentally-conscious consumers who care about the company’s impact on the ecology of the areas of Nornickel’s operation, banks, and financial institutions financing it. According to Andrey Bourgov’s words, cooperation with all stakeholders is viewed as fundamental. “Attending and speaking at the Norilsk Public Chamber will become as commonplace as it should be,” – he added.
Stanislav Seleznyov, Nornickel’s Vice President for Environmental Protection, shared the company’s specific plans to fulfill its environmental strategy, particularly to clean air emissions, remove landfills and reuse waste. For instance, Nornickel intends to build:
- the sulfur dioxide capture
- recycling factories
- two wastewater treatment facilities (one at the Metallurgical Plant ‘Nadezhda’ and another at the Norilsk Concentrator)
- five water treatment plants at the underground mines
The hearings took place in the Norilsk State Industrial Institute. © Norilsk Nickel
The participants of the Chamber hearings also touched upon one of the most challenging global issues to date – climate change. One of the forefront aspects of the global climate change agenda today relates to the Arctic region and the melting of the ice. Considering that the Arctic is recently warming much faster than in the previous years, Norilsk ecology requires a permafrost soil monitoring system to control the pertinent risks for local homes and factories. Hence Nornickel will install sensors to track the relevant data on more than 1,500 buildings of the city of Norilsk. “This tracking system will also record changes employing boreholes and aerospace monitoring,” – Mr. Seleznyov said.
