Environmental and Climate Change Strategy

Nornickel’s key climate‑related targets are set out in its 2031 Environmental and Climate Change Strategy.

The Strategy was first approved by the Board of Directors in 2021, with an updated version adopted in 2024. The main drivers behind the update were the tightening of Russia’s environmental legislation and evolving geopolitical landscape. The revised Strategy includes extending the planning horizon; expanding the list of assets involved in implementation; adding 54 new initiatives; postponing or cancelling certain initiatives; and revising the targets for sulphur dioxide emissions reduction and land rehabilitation.

Another key change was the division of the Strategy into two parts: mandatory and voluntary. The mandatory part ensures compliance with Russian environmental legislation, helping the Company avoid regulatory penalties, and also ensures adherence to stock exchange requirements. The voluntary part covers greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets and alignment with international standards not linked to Russian environmental legislation.

Key amendments to the Environmental and Climate Change StrategyFor more details on the focus areas and targets of the Environmental and Climate Change Strategy, please see the Norilsk Nickel Group’s 2024 Sustainability Report.

2021 version

  • 21 goals (16 quantitative metrics across 6 areas, and 5 focused on compliance with international standards)
  • >360 initiatives

2024 version

The updated Strategy is structured into mandatory and voluntary sections:

  • The mandatory part includes nine targets across the following areas: prevention of emergencies, air, water, tailings and waste, soil, biodiversity, and stock exchange requirements
  • The voluntary part comprises seven targets in the following areas: climate change, tailings and waste, and compliance with standards
  • >420 initiatives

Given the high degree of external uncertainty and the need to monitor both the economic and environmental impacts of individual measures, the Strategy is subject to annual review.

Strategy’s targets in the Climate Change area
TCFD Mb, IFRS S2 29a, 29е, IFRS 33a, 33d, 33g
2021 version 2024 version
IFRS S2 29e
Indicators Indicators 2020 baseline 2024 actual 2031 target
1. Maintaining the amount of absolute Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions from operations at around 10 mln t of CO2 equivalent through 2030 while increasing production volumes 1. Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissionsExcluding GHG emissions from electricity and heat supply to local communities and other consumers but including GHG emissions from the Sulphur Project at Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant. Until the Sulphur Project reaches its design capacity, a projected design amount of prospective emissions – the so-called “provision” – of 1.2 mln t of CO2 equivalent is applied., mln t of CO2 equivalent 8.5 7.5 TBD
2. Share of renewable energy use, % 46% 54%

In addition, the Environmental and Climate Change Strategy sets compliance with TCFD recommendations, ICMM Principles, and the IRMA Standard for Responsible Mining as a formal objective.

Spending on our energy efficiency programme and other climate‑related initiatives totalled

RUB  4.8 billion