Nornickel’s Environmental and Climate Change Strategy seeks to reduce a negative impact on biodiversity.
Nornickel fully supports the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular, SDG 14 Life below Water and SDG 15 Life on Land.
In its operations and decision-making the Company adheres to the following principles:
Our main goal is to reduce negative biodiversity impact, including forest protection in the areas of operation. We intend to:
The Company has been providing support to natural reserves for more than a decade. These efforts are well aligned with Norilsk Nickel’s overall strategy aimed at responsible mining and pursuing a sustainable growth trajectory underpinned by the Company’s new investment cycle. We are supporting programmes run by Russia’s largest natural reserves on studying and protecting rare and endangered species listed on Red Book of the Russian Federation, including Siberian bighorn sheep, polar bears and lesser white-fronted geese.
We back the following nature reserves:
For a long time the Company has been
Since 2016, Nornickel has been cooperating with the Maltat fish breeding farm to release over 1,200,000 Siberian sturgeon fingerlings into water bodies.
In accordance with the Support Agreement signed with the indigenous peoples of Taimyr, the Company invests in a fish breeding farm on the peninsula.
In addition, the Group’s entities release aquatic biological resources in line with the national regulation.
In 2020, the Great Norilsk Expedition included four groups of biodiversity studies: biological research, biological and zoological diversity, hydrobiological and hydrochemical research (oil products), and soil and plants.
In 2022, Nornickel initiated a large-scale biodiversity study in three Russian regions where it operates. The study aims to define the areas of the Company’s environmental impact and assess the current biodiversity status within their ecosystems.
The research is carried out by scientists from the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and covers the exploration, mining, production, transport, logistics and energy facilities of Nornickel’s Norilsk, Kola and Trans-Baikal divisions. The study involves a number of leading research institutions of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Siberian Branch: the Institute of Soil Science and Agrochemistry, the Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals, Central Siberian Botanical Garden and the Institute of Biophysics of Krasnoyarsk Science Centre.
The analysis focuses on defining the current biodiversity situation, identifying local indicator and endangered species, and pinning down any potential biodiversity threats posed by the Company’s production facilities. The research findings will serve as a basis for a system to manage the impact on biodiversity, as well as for biodiversity protection and monitoring programmes. In spring 2022, on-site studies commenced in the Trans-Baikal Territory.