Biodiversity conservation
The Company strives to comply with national environmental legislation and to match best international practices.
Our goal is to prevent potential impacts on biological diversity in the regions where we operate, including through preservation of forests. Where such impact is unavoidable and caused by production necessity, the Company implements compensatory measures.
In order to preserve biodiversity NLMK Group prohibits to destroy or damage greenery, set up fires, hunt or fish on the territory of its sites. These requirements apply to both NLMK employees and contractor personnel. All water intake points are equipped with fish protection devices. The sites’ positioning does not obstruct the movement of migrating birds or animals.
The Company acknowledges the importance of the deforestation challenge. NLMK Group has an active reforestation policy whereby two new trees are planted for each one tree cut down.
Cooperation in biodiversity monitoring and preservation
This reserve is one of the smallest and oldest protected natural territories in Russia. It was organized in 1999 based on the Les Na Vorskle reserve that had been established in 1924. The objective was to preserve and study the typical and unique ecosystems of the Cretaceous South of the Central Russian Upland.
Since 2020, pursuant to contracts signed with the reserve, Stoilensky has been carrying out biodiversity research and monitoring. Joint research work and environmental monitoring of the impact on biodiversity are being carried out:
• Developing a methodological framework for environmental monitoring of the reserve’s condition and impacts, • Continued cataloguing of biodiversity, including on the nature reserve territory, • Assessing the condition of rare and endangered species of plants and animals in the nature reserve and adjacent territories, • Validation of methods for heavy metal monitoring and air quality evaluation in the Yamskaya Steppe Nature Reserve, • Characterizing the condition of surface water quality in the Chufichka River basin.For information on the biodiversity research programme at Stoilensky, see this link.
Annual joint work is done with the breeding centre under the Eurasian Regional Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Conservation of Cranes of Eurasia programme. The Conservation of Cranes of Eurasia Programme involves listing of all cranes kept in captivity with identification of sex and making a genetic profile for each captive bird. Cooperation under the Eurasian Cranes Conservation Programme continued in 2023 jointly with the Oka Nature Reserve nursery of rare crane species. Experts studied the cranes at the park and entered them into the Russian register of cranes of the Oka Reserve.
Furthermore, genetic studies of cranes in Russia are being conducted in order to identify subspecies and genetic features of individual populations, which should help both breeding in captivity and reintroduction into the wild. Cranes listed in the Russian Red Book, i.e., the Japanese Crane and the Demoiselle Crane, inhabit the Swan Lake Ecological Park, the only such bio-indicator in Russia and its neighbouring countries located on-site at an industrial enterprise. The park was created in 1978 by employees of NLMK Lipetsk.
Swan Lake Ecological Park collaborates closely with leading Russian zoos and nature reserves in order to grow and replenish the local fauna. In 2023, the park brought in 20 additional specimens from the Divo Ptitsa Bird Nursery in the Moscow Region. Moreover, birds brought to the park in 2022 gave birth to around 150 chicks, contributing to the total brood of 204 chicks of 20 species.
Every year, NLMK undertakes to release juvenile fish into water bodies in order to replenish fish stocks. The incubation and release of juvenile fish is carried out by specialized organizations under dedicated contracts.
In 2020, the Altai-Koks environmental team began a six-year programme to release juvenile fish into one of the water bodies of the Upper Ob basin.
The assessment of the site’s production activities on the fish stocks of the Chumysh River in the Zarinsk Region and the development of the programme have been carried out as part of cooperation with the Altai branch of the Russian Federation Research Institute of Fishery and Oceanography.
NLMK Group seeks to manage biodiversity guided by best industry practices and recommendations of reputable international organizations: IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources), TNFD (Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures), WWF (World Wild Fund for Nature), SBTN (Science-based targets for nature). etc. The main approach to setting goals is based on preliminary assessment of the current state and baseline biodiversity indicators on the Group’s sites to define measurable and relevant metrics for biodiversity management and progress assessment. In 2023, the Company developed and adopted corporate Regulations of Monitoring and Conservation of Biodiversity. The Regulations establish the procedure for identification of risks and threats to biodiversity, and the process for development of monitoring and conservation programmes for biodiversity. Development of a Biodiversity Conservation Programme and Strategy is based on the hierarchy of mitigation measures, whereby first a No Net Loss level and then a Net Positive Impact is achieved for all Group companies driven by the Prevent – Reduce – Recover – Compensate principle.
The Company’s measures are structured in line with the universally accepted AR³T approach (Avoid, Reduce, Restore & Regenerate, Transform) to setting science-based biodiversity conservation targets. This approach is described in the Science Based Targets for Nature guidance. The structure of the AR³T approach covers measures for preventing potential impacts, reducing the current impact, regenerating and recovering ecosystems, and transforming the ecosystems that companies operate in.
In line with AR³T, managing the human impact of Group companies on biodiversity relies mainly on the measures aimed at restricting and reducing their footprint. The main biodiversity efforts are aimed at reducing any existing impact and taking compensatory measures in line with legislation. The measures that the Group undertakes to recover disturbed territories are sufficient according to Russian legislation.
Key biodiversity conservation projects
