Results of the 3rd Environmental Transparency Rating Of Mining & Metals Companies of Russia

The research initiated by WWF-Russia is financed by the European Union, as  part of the WWF- EU project "People for Nature".

The results are traditionally calculated by the Analytical Center of the National Rating Agency. 

The new Rating included 41 participants, of which 8 companies have taken part in the research for the first time; out of them, 4 are gold-mining and 4 are coal-mining enterprises. It is worth saying that almost half of the companies interacted with the Rating organizers and published the lacking information on their websites. 

"The mining industry is one of the most important sectors of Russian economy today. The growing demand for the various mineral resources regarding the development of green economy will make this sector even more valuable. With that in mind we need to generate more efficient mechanisms that can reduce negative impact of the mining companies on the environment. Through the growth of the industrial companies transparency WWF’s rating make its distribution to cutting the negative impacts of the industry on the environment. Each year we register the increase of the companies’ transparency. This time, we received feedback from 19 companies, considering that 41 organizations were participating. Last year there were only 14 such companies", says Aleksey Knizhnikov, Head of the Program for the Business Environmental Responsibility at WWF-Russia. "Thanks to the growing transparency of the companies, for the first time we have enough data to calculate industry-average environmental impact by sub-industry, including mining of precious metals, non-ferrous and ferrous metals." 

This year's results are similar to last year, however, with some rearrangements within the top three positions. The top line of the rankings is occupied by Polyus Zoloto, the second - SDS-Ugol, the third - Kinross Gold.

As for special nominations, the company Rusdragmet won a diploma for the most prominent promotion in the Rating, and Severstal was awarded for achievements in biodiversity conservation. The company Alrosa was highlighted for active cooperation during the Rating calculation, and Metalloinvest - for informational transparency. Kuzbassrazrezugol was acknowledged as the best start of the year, while Mechel demonstrated constructive dialogue in cases of accidents and environmental conflicts.

The methodology is being gradually improved each year. In 2019, the criterion for evaluating the implementation of environmental management system has changed: now it is calculated by using quantitative performance results, not just by presence or absence of environmental management in the company. A new criterion was added - for energy production from renewable sources of energy (RSE).

"We expected the debates on energy production using renewable energy sources and on hydropower in particular. WWF position remains unchanged. Although water is considered a renewable source of energy, large hydropower dams (with a capacity larger than 25 MW) were excluded from the rating since they cause considerable damage to freshwater ecosystems," says Oxana Nikitina, WWF-Russia Coordinator for Freshwater Ecosystem Conservation.

The Rating methodology also defined such concepts as Environmental Conflicts, Public Outcry, and Social and Environmental Damage.

 About The Rating

The main objectives of the research are to increase the corporate responsibility of mining and metals companies and to create effective engagement mechanisms for the industry with stakeholders.

The ratings allow comparing information on the level of environmental responsibility of mining and metals companies and the scale of their impact on the environment, including biodiversity conservation, and also gives an idea of the dynamic pattern of the industry as a whole.

 About The People for Nature project

The People for Nature project is implemented by WWF Russia and is funded by the EU. It aims at engaging a wider audience in environmental protection. The Project will run in 2019 – 2022. Its goals are to protect the forests through preventing degradation and illegal use of forests, and to reduce environmental impact caused by industrial processes through reducing air and water pollution and increasing the environmental responsibility of business