Nornickel fully supports the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals
The Company considers social responsibility and commitment to the principles of sustainable development to be one of the pillars of operational efficiency and business development. Nornickel seeks to continuously improve its activities in the areas of environmental protection, human rights, health and safety, environmental impact assessment, and biodiversity preservation.
In November 2016, Nornickel joined the United Nations Global Compact, which seeks to encourage businesses around the world to recognise and adopt universal principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment, and anti-corruption. Since then, we remain fully committed to these principles. Their integration into the Company’s strategy was initiated back in 2018 and is gaining momentum every year.
Based on stakeholder engagement, we selected and looked into those SDGs that are most relevant to our operations. Following an analysis of SDGs against our current strategy, material risks, goals and commitments, investments in relevant projects and best peer practices, we selected six main SDGs:
Goal 3: Good health and well-being
Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth
Goal 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure
Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities
Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production
Goal 13: Climate action
The Company is working towards the UN SDGs up to 2030.
We are consistently integrating sustainable development principles into our by-laws and everyday practices. In our public and non-financial reports we disclose key sustainability targets and performance against relevant UN SDGs.
E — environment
Our environmental priorities are guided by our strong commitment to minimising the impact of the Company’s operations on water, air, land, and biodiversity, while also ensuring efficient waste management and a responsible approach to tailings.
S — social
In social initiatives, we focus on diversity, non-discrimination, and strengthening our long-lasting partnerships with local communities in the regions where we operate, including the indigenous minorities of Taimyr and Murmansk region impacted by our production activities.
G — governance
Nornickel seeks to foster a group-wide corporate culture of partnership and mutual respect shared by every employee. This will help us effectively implement our strategy based on sustainable development principles and enhance the Company’s business reputation.
Nornickel’s sustainability priorities
Nornickel’s SDG-linked projects and programmes
Russia’s strategic priorities: Nornickel’s contribution towards national projects
Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
Implementing health improvement and wellness programmes for employees and their families
Securing voluntary health insurance for employees and their families
Running the Corporate Healthcare project
Organising regular corporate sports events, tournaments and training exercises
Providing personal protective equipment and preventive nutrition to employees, along with regular training in occupational health and safety
Russia’s strategic priorities: Nornickel’s contribution towards national projects
Healthcare
Demography
Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
Providing training programmes for employees
Collaborating with educational institutions (schools, universities, colleges): entering into partnership agreements, offering scholarships, developing joint programmes and training plans, organising internships, repairing and building educational infrastructure
Fostering the engineering talent of young people within Nornickel’s ecosystem, encompassing schoolchildren, university students, and young professionals
Implementing the World of New Opportunities charity programme: grants for educational institutions and projects
Russia’s strategic priorities: Nornickel’s contribution towards national projects
Education
Science and universities
Goal 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
Implementing projects to improve water use efficiency across Nornickel’s operations
Ensuring access to pure drinking water for employees and local communities in the regions where Nornickel operates
Russia’s strategic priorities: Nornickel’s contribution towards national projects
Environment
Goal 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
Completing a major upgrade of energy infrastructure by 2030
Regularly carrying out operational and technical initiatives to reduce energy consumption and improve energy efficiency of the Company’s operations
Ensuring access to electricity in the cities of operation, including Norilsk
Russia’s strategic priorities: Nornickel’s contribution towards national projects
Comprehensive plan for upgrading and expanding core infrastructure
Environment
Goal 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
Facilitating local employment in the regions where Nornickel operates and attracting personnel from outside the local labour market
Providing decent and comfortable working conditions, ensuring equal opportunities for development and career growth
Securing employees’ involvement in social partnerships
Implementing programmes to improve the employees’ social and living conditions
Carrying out health and safety initiatives
Fostering collaboration with small and medium businesses across the Company’s footprint and implementing entrepreneur support programmes
Making payments to budgets
Russia’s strategic priorities: Nornickel’s contribution towards national projects
Labour productivity
Small and medium enterprises and support for individual entrepreneurial initiatives
Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation
Developing and integrating digital solutions into the Company’s business processes and achieving technological sovereignty
Implementing digital projects in the regions of operation (building a fibre optic communication line in Norilsk, increasing the reliability of Norilsk Airport IT infrastructure, creating a digital renovation platform for Norilsk, monitoring the foundations of buildings and structures in Norilsk and air quality in the regions of operation)
Fostering the information security market in cooperation with developers and vendors of relevant products and services
Participating in the Metallurgy and Environment industrial competence centres
Russia’s strategic priorities: Nornickel’s contribution towards national projects
Digital economy
Environment
Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries
Relocating Norilsk and Dudinka residents to regions with better climate conditions
Providing relocation assistance to new employees
Implementing Our Home and My Home social programmes (purchase of apartments for employees in various Russian regions)
Increasing population mobility across Nornickel’s footprint (in line with Norilsk Airport’s new status as an international airport)
Obtaining FPIC for launching the Tukhard relocation and development programme, and leveraging this experience for a dialogue with the Sámi, Nenets, and Komi communities in the Murmansk Region
Russia’s strategic priorities: Nornickel’s contribution towards national projects
Housing and urban environment
Comprehensive plan for upgrading and expanding core infrastructure
Goal 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
Implementing large-scale environmental projects (Sulphur Programme, Clean Norilsk)
Piloting an air quality monitoring and forecasting system in Norilsk, Monchegorsk, Zapolyarny, and Nickel
Implementing cooperation agreements and plans with the Trans-Baikal Territory, Murmansk Region, Norilsk, and Taimyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky Municipal District
Russia’s strategic priorities: Nornickel’s contribution towards national projects
Environment
Housing and urban environment
Tourism and hospitality
Culture
Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
Conducting research and establishing partnership agreements to develop solutions for a closed-loop battery supply chain
Implementing projects contributing to more active waste recycling and treatment
Taking action to eliminate existing pollution
Regularly monitoring the condition of tailing dump hydraulic structures and conducting environmental monitoring of impact zones
Russia’s strategic priorities: Nornickel’s contribution towards national projects
Environment
Goal 13: Climate action
Increasing the share of renewables in electricity consumption
Implementing projects to upgrade power and heat generation, electrical grids and heat networks
Carrying out energy saving and energy efficiency improvement initiatives
Developing innovative approaches to reducing greenhouse gas emissions (such as natural and artificial mineralisation of mining waste)
Russia’s strategic priorities: Nornickel’s contribution towards national projects
Environment
Goal 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
Cooperating with Nature Reserves
Responding to environmental incidents
Undertaking scientific expeditions
Fish stocking at water bodies across the regions of operation
Supporting environmental summits and volunteer environmental projects in general
Russia’s strategic priorities: Nornickel’s contribution towards national projects
Environment
Goal 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
Implementing anti-corruption measures, including educating and training employees on anti-corruption practices
Upholding a zero tolerance approach to any violations of human rights across the Company and its supply chain
Ensuring equitable access for all stakeholders to the Corporate Trust Line and grievance mechanism
Goal 17: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development
Manufacturing and exporting metals needed for low-carbon energy transition
Establishing partnerships that advance sustainable development at national and global scales
Participating in the UN Global Compact and issuing relevant reports
Maintaining active dialogue and strengthening relationships with stakeholders
Building international ties in science, technology, and innovations
Supporting corporate volunteering
Russia’s strategic priorities: Nornickel’s contribution towards national projects
International cooperation and exports
Science and universities