Anton Vilchinskii
Shynar Bekzhanova
Anastasia Sakharova
Sergey Khadzhibaronov
Tamerlan Seksembaev
Irina Golosheikina
The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)
Ekaterina Ivanova
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The goal of our research was to find a company in Russia which operates responsibly and follows the Sustainable Development Goals. And we have easily found one such national champion. Our story is about Nornickel, a company which is historically responsible for almost the entire city of Norilsk. The main idea of the innovation is that the company does not carelessly take resources and sell them but also seeks to address the needs of many of its stakeholders. Nornickle is an example of a company which has successfully integrated stakeholders perspective, responsibility and sustainability in its DNA.
The innovation of Nornickel that we would like to highlight is its change towards green production, which became true after several turning points. It is not merely about operating facilities but also about a range of other initiatives that make the approach to green innovations holistic.
Not so long ago Nornickel could have been accused of air pollution and having an irresponsible attitude to the citizens of Norilsk but the company has made a great effort to improve its image. “Nornickel is a company with more than 80 years of history, with a strong environmental policy, it strives to follow the current international agenda in the field of sustainable development,” according to Inessa Chernova. “The company is transforming itself into a Green Nornickel by launching a cycle of reinvestment programs. Green production is a key point in the short-term strategy of the company with respect to the environmental modernization of production,” says Chernova.
In 2016 Nornickel closed its oldest and most polluting plant in Norilsk, improving the air quality. Moreover, it recently signed a contract to install sulfur dioxide filtration and storage technologies at its remaining plant in Norilsk. It will be one of the largest environmental projects of its kind. Once the initiative is completed in 2020, sulfur emissions will be reduced by 75%.
As it was described by Chernova, “The company was driven by the willingness to create decent life, improve health and make air cleaner. The overall desire is to make Norilsk more attractive. Motivation and inspiration comes from the things we should be doing anyway. The kind of projects that refer above all to ecology.” An important fact about Nornickel is that it is located in a monocity. That mean Nornickel is “responsible” for managing the city of Norilsk. If the company brings harm to its the place operations it will eventually face problems of its own making. Consideration of these factors has led to understanding that it is necessary to rebuild and restructure the company in order to maintain trust of the local community.
Recently the ecological situation in Norlisk has been improved. This represents a great achievement for Nornickel. In our opinion, this company really cares about ecology and the citizens of Norilsk. We can look at the impact from two perspectives – that of the operational sites and that of the world.
First of all, in Norilsk and the surrounding areas CO2 emissions have been reduced by 35%, with a goal of further reductions by 2023. The closed recently closed nickel plant was one of the largest emitters in the area so, its closure helped to was an important part of this achievement.
Nornickel also organizes numerous social activities connected with the improvement of the environment, which is considered to have long-term benefits for Norilsk.
Moving on to the global environmental initiatives Nornickel supports the development of hybrid cars. According to the annual report the company organized 70 eco campaigns in 2017 in the region of its operations. Beyond that, the company participated in some events aimed at habitat protection. “If you want your metallurgy to be clean, you need to change metallurgy”, said Chernova, expressing the view that systemic changes in the industry are necessary.
The company has made an effort to become green. This both attracts new talented employees willing to work in the company with such a green culture and increases employee retention. “The main benefit here is that the process of operation is modernized and became less harmful for the society which improved the image of the company”, said Inessa Chernova.
Nornical's reforms have benefitted many stakeholders.
The citizens of Norilsk will now have better living and working conditions. More and more people are engaged in a wide range of social projects and events organized by the company, especially activities for young people. The city has also become more attractive for tourists.
From the environmental perspective, Norlisk has experienced a significant decline of emissions, which led to a higher quality of life and better ecology. After the innovation was introduced, habitat conditions habitat for animals, especially endangered species improved.
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Inessa Chernova, Chief Manager of the Social Policy Department
Inessa Chernova, Chief Manager of the Social Policy Department
Nornickel is the world's largest producer of palladium, one of the largest producers of nickel, platinum and copper. The core operations of Nornickel include prospecting, exploration, mining, concentration and processing of minerals along with the production, marketing and sales of non-ferrous and precious metals. The company supplies its products in over 30 countries. Nornickel’s key business units are located in Russia (Norilsk Industrial District, Kola Peninsula and Trans-Baikal Territory), Finland and South Africa.