We strive to ensure that our operations are conducted in the most sustainable way possible and do our utmost to mitigate adverse environmental impacts caused by our day-to-day operations, in order to comply with environmental obligations and to meet the expectations of stakeholders. We invest great efforts into enhancing all aspects of our environmental performance, and the Group’s contributions have received positive feedback from the international business community.
Our Environmental Management System (EMS) ensures that environmental risks are mitigated and all regulatory requirements are met. The EMS also incorporates environmental and social impact assessments, environmental due diligence and the management of environmental projects. It is based on the following principles:
- Coordinating environmental programmes and the Group’s development strategy
- Environmental risk assessment and mitigation, risk audits of current and prospective assets
- Risk-based justifications of environmental projects
- Managing environmental projects in accordance with the management of investment projects, the consideration and approval of such projects by the managing company, and personal responsibility for project implementation
- Liaising with the Legal Department on environmental regulatory issues
- Continual monitoring and analysis of applicable legislation
HSE corporate management structure
To raise staff awareness of environmental issues and to reduce the number of onsite incidents, EVRAZ established Fundamental Environmental Requirements.
EVRAZ’s Fundamental Environmental Requirements
We work diligently to develop sustainable business practices and to implement environmental principles into each stage of the value chain, and use all available tools to deliver our environmental strategy.
In 2020, EVRAZ updated the environmental strategy and developed two scenarios related to the level of impacts and capital investments: realistic and stressful. To meet the expectations of investors and society, the Group has also set new goals for the period up to 2030. Using 2019 as the baseline year, they cover four aspects: water, waste, air emissions and GHG indicators (for more details, see the Climate and energy section on page 64-67). EVRAZ set the following new goals with the realistic scenario in mind.
| Area | Goal |
2020 status |
|---|---|---|
| Water | Zero water discharge from steel production | 68.6 million cubic metres |
| Waste | Utilise 95% of waste from metal production and general waste | 102.7% |
| Recycle 50% of mining waste | 28.5% | |
| Air emissions | Reduce total atmospheric emissions from steel production by 33% | 3.7% decrease |
| Reduce dust emissions from coal mining by 1.5 times | 10.0% decrease | |
| GHG emissions | Reducing specific Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions from EVRAZ’s Steel segments (the Steel and North America segments) by 20% | 1.97 tCO2e/tcs |
| Utilising 75% of methane (CH4) emitted in the process of degassing carried out during coal mining | n/a |
Within the new strategy the Group also aims to ensure full regulatory compliance and transparent data measurements by 2025. To enhance the disclosure of information regarding its environmental strategy, the Group also updated its environmental reporting procedures during the reporting period.