Environmental management
Key events
As a global mining and steel-making company, EVRAZ recognises that continuous growth in its production creates significant environmental obligations. In order to manage business operations responsibly, the Group has declared a reduction in adverse environmental impacts to be one of its priority goals. We set long-term environmental performance indicators to reduce the potential negative effects of our day-to-day activities, so as to provide a safe environment in our regions of operation. We strive to comply with all applicable environmental regulations and to meet the expectations of our stakeholders. The Group’s versatile approach to environmental issues is reflected both in our business strategy and HSE governance structure (see Health and Safety management section).
In line with our HSE Policy, we strive to use the best available technologies and adopt the most reliable management practices. To uniform management of environmental issues at all EVRAZ enterprises, we have implemented an environmental management system (EMS) model in our corporate management structure. All Group enterprises, therefore, are obliged to carry out environmental procedures under the EVRAZ EMS, which is based on the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) model. Also, all our major steel mills have ISO 14001 certification.
Adhering to applicable legal environmental requirements set by the authorities is a priority goal for EVRAZ. Since the absence of environmental fines and penalties during the year is a performance indicator for the HSE directors of EVRAZ enterprises, environmental compliance monitoring is conducted on a daily basis.
During the reporting period our facilities passed external Rosprirodnadzor and other regulatory environmental audits, and during one of these audits EVRAZ was fined for damaging a water body at Mezhegeyugol. The total value of non-compliance-related levies and fines levied against the Group in 2019 was US$5.0 million, compared to US$2.2 million in 2018. As a mitigation measure Mezhegeyugol implements a project for the construction of treatment facilities.
To raise staff awareness of environmental issues and to reduce the number of onsite incidents, EVRAZ established Fundamental Environmental Requirements.
GRI 307-1
Non-compliance with these requirements may result in disciplinary action or a fine.