The Russian chapter of the Climate Governance Initiative (CGI Russia), part of the World Economic Forum’s Climate Action Platform, conducted a survey of Russian mining and metallurgical companies in partnership with Deloitte CIS to assess their commitment to a climate and decarbonization agenda. Polyus, the largest gold producer in Russia, and a top-five gold producer globally provided support for the survey.
According to the report, a third of the Russian mining companies reported that renewables constituted more than 80% of their energy consumption. However, the bulk of the renewable supply came from hydroelectric sources, and many of the companies made active use of natural gas.
The report also observed that the greenhouse gases (GHG) emission targets of Russian companies trailed far behind the global leaders of their industry.
On climate risks, though 70% of companies had conducted assessments, only 36% had performed scenario analysis exercises.
Further, Russian companies lagged in the degree of their disclosure of climate metrics. However, from the standpoint of corporate governance, the engagement of Russian Boards and Management with a climate agenda was on par with global peers, the survey found.
In April, Polyus announced it had acquired I-REC green certificates to offset emissions from the remaining share of its energy consumption not yet directly met by renewable energy sources.
Combined with large-scale hydropower supply contracts, the company claims it has become the first major gold mining company globally to cover all of its electricity needs with renewable energy sources.
Sources: Mining Magazine, Polyus