A dialogue on environmental issues between the government, society, and business is an important principle in the Company’s environmental protection policy.
In May 2013, an extended meeting of the Public Council under the Administration of the Federal Supervisory Natural Resources Management Service for the Krasnoyarsk Territory was held, at which the results of implementing the Agreement on Collaboration Between the Federal Supervisory Natural Resources Management Service and OJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel were discussed. It was noted that the Company is moving confidently towards improving the environmental situation and is fulfilling all the obligations it has assumed. A similar meeting was held in September 2013 in Norilsk. It examined performance of the action plan to reduce the negative impact of pollutant emissions into the atmosphere. A joint report of the Public Council and MMC Norilsk Nickel was drawn up on the results of implementing the Agreement.
In September 2013, the 4th International Conference on Environmental Protection and Industrial Activity in the North was held with the Company’s support in Norilsk, in which representatives of government agencies and environmental protection structures, research institutions, educational institutions, and enterprises of Russia took part, as well as representatives of Norilsk Nickel Harjavalta (Finland) and Enersul Limited Partnership (Canada). Reports were presented at the conference on environmental rehabilitation projects of the polluted islands of the Franz-Joseph Land Archipelago and monitoring of the Karsk-Barents polar bear population implemented by FSBI Preserves of Taimyr, with the Company’s financial support. The conference participants also visited the enterprises of the Zapolarny Branch, where they became acquainted with the Company’s environmental practice.
In 2013, the Company’s representatives participated actively in the discussions at the 4th All-Russian Environmental Protection Congress, worked at the international conferences of the Atmosphere National Research Institute, including at the Atmosphere-2013 congress, and joined the national Forest Planting Day, “Environmental Community Cleanup Day,” and other environmental campaigns.
In January 2013, Kola MMC became one of the first industrial enterprises of the Murmansk Region to support the regional environmental declaration and assume obligations to carry out environmental measures and render comprehensive support to the government in resolving the region’s environmental problems.
In March 2013, the representatives of Kola MMC took an active role in the discussion on the state of the environment in border areas at a seminar held within the framework of an international project entitled “The Phenology of the Cap of the North” held in the Nickel settlement. The project is being implemented under the patronage of the Norwegian Ministry of the Environment in order to distribute objective information about the state of the environment in the region and is oriented toward professors and students in Norway, Finland, and Russia. The event was organised by the Pasvik Nature Preserve with the support of Kola MMC.
In November 2013, the Bellona International Environmental Organisation organised the trip of a large group of independent journalists and bloggers to Zapolarny and Nickel. The Company’s employees told the journalists about the environmental protection measures being carried out at the Norilsk Nickel enterprises and about the modernisation of production aimed at reducing the amount of harmful emissions into the atmosphere.
In 2013, representatives of Russia’s Green Patrol organisation visited the production divisions of Kola MMC within the framework of an environmental expedition called “The 37th Meridian. The Murmansk Region” of organisations of Norway’s county of Finnmark. They noted the transparency of the Company and the measures it is carrying out to reduce the load on the environment.