First meeting of Nornickel's Environmental Task Team

Nornickel’s Board of Directors’ Environmental Task Team, founded in the aftermath of May 2020’s diesel spill in Norilsk, held its first meeting, July 10, 2020. The task team, formed to help guide Nornickel’s path towards sustainability, discussed the state of decontamination efforts, general approaches to environmental protection, corporate culture, and plans for the future.

While the task force itself is comprised exclusively of independent board members, the meeting was extended to the company’s newly appointed Senior Vice President for Environmental Protection, Andrey Bougrov, who provided an update on clean-up operations.

Mr. Bougrov, who will oversee the Company’s sustainable development efforts, has considerable experience dealing with ESG matters and is well positioned to coordinate activities across the company’s various stakeholder groups.

Gareth Penny, Chairman of Nornickel’s Board of Directors, said: “I would like to note the appropriate and effective measures the management undertook over the course of the clean-up of the accident at Norilsk’s confined heat and power plant 3. Most of the spilled diesel — almost 90% — has already been collected. It was the timely efforts that made it possible to avoid the threat of environmental disaster”.

Mr. Penny also said that Nornickel requires a more marked shift in corporate culture vis-à-vis environmental responsibility: “We have to have a proper organisational design for ESG to make this part of people’s everyday behaviour by the start of 2021. This should all be in place by Q4 2020.”