From my observations, what is happening in business in connection with the topic of sustainable development can be defined as follows: the candy is separate, and the wrapper is separate. Moreover, this candy is also divided into 17 parts. Why is that? Because each part of a large business is involved in some area related to sustainable development: ecology, supplies, people. But it turns out that everyone who is involved in their individual areas is not always connected into a single whole. And those who really try to connect everything are often PR and G&R specialists. They are talking about that very wrapper in which the candy is wrapped. Everything is there, you just need to connect it all so that, say, the production director can talk about sustainable development as confidently as the PR director. So, I repeat, we have all of this. It is all sewn into our strategy, goals, objectives, projects and investments. But for some reason we do not always talk about it in the language that we are using now at this conference.

For Norilsk Nickel, the most important thing now is not launching projects, but collecting them into a single whole and explaining both within the company and to external audiences what exactly we are doing in the context of sustainable development and its 17 goals.

I will give two examples. Ecology is one of the company's priorities. This was reflected in the previous strategy, and in the current strategy, and in the prospects for the next five years. These are colossal investments - about $2.5 billion - in air purification in Norilsk. And by 2024, we plan to reduce emissions by 70%. Another flagship project is the creation of a production facility for the manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles, together with BASF, for which we supply metals. For us, this is an example of how the idea of sustainable development is included in the core business, since our metals - nickel, cobalt - are involved in a new industry, an environmentally friendly industry. A sufficient number of consumers choose electric vehicles, and this turns the industry in this direction.

Partners came up with a new approach to auditing

It is noteworthy that before signing the contract, BASF sent auditors to us with a huge list of social and environmental issues. They came to the enterprise, went down into the mines, went to the metallurgical shops and looked at how the company meets all the requirements of sustainable development. And we passed this checkup, and the new production is planned to be created in such a way that it will use renewable energy sources.

Svetlana Ivchenko

Graduated from the Novosibirsk State Technical University and Valdosta University (USA). She began her professional career in the non-profit sector in 1999. In 2002–2004, she held a number of positions in the Social Policy department of the Institute for Urban Economics Foundation. In 2004, she joined Rusal as a charity manager, and since 2007, she has headed the Social Projects group. Since 2013 – Director of the Social Policy Department of Norilsk Nickel.

This is an example of how business is built in a new way. Moreover, our main production is built in a new way. Bystrinsky GOK, unlike the old production in Norilsk, which is more than 80 years old, was initially designed so that emissions are captured and there is less impact on the environment.

All these processes that take place within the company require interaction between departments. Sometimes it seems that what we are doing is changing the signs: we used to call it "environmental protection activities", and now it is sustainable development goal number such-and-such. Or we had an audit committee, whose list of functions expanded. Now it is an audit and sustainable development committee. But if you look at the committee's regulations, everything is listed there separated by commas, but there is no single common topic of sustainable development.

We have 17 policies that cover all issues of sustainable development. This includes biodiversity, indigenous peoples of the North, etc. But there is nothing that could serve as an umbrella – that would generally determine where we are going, what we want to do, what we are doing for this and how we are getting there.

Inventory of goals

Last year, we started taking stock of our activities in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. A huge questionnaire was developed. We did not start from the goals, because they sound quite abstract. We surveyed about 50 of our functional managers to identify priorities in their work: what projects already exist, what investments have been made and what are planned, what tasks they set for themselves. As a result, we identified 12 goals, their costs, etc. The next step is to bring this up for discussion with our vice presidents in order to summarize and confirm our position on the topic of sustainable development and specific actions.

PJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel

Shareholders: Interros structures – Olderfrey Holdings Ltd (34.6%), UC Rusal (27.8%), Crispian Investments Ltd (4.2%, beneficiaries – Roman Abramovich, Alexander Abramov, Alexander Frolov), 33.4% of shares are in free float. Capitalization (LSE) – $36.2 billion. Revenue (IFRS, 2018) – $11.7 billion, net profit – $3.1 billion.

This focus on the main thing helps to keep the topic in the spotlight, make appropriate decisions for different departments in their area of responsibility and discuss topics in dialogue.

I think the direction related to integrating the goal into risk management is especially important. Because there are a number of ESG investors who want to invest only in green companies. Compared to other investors, their percentage is not that big, just as the percentage of consumers who would like to buy goods only from a company that meets the requirements of sustainable development is small. But if you count investors, consumers, employees, representatives of other stakeholders, then together it turns out to be quite a lot.

The danger of being late

Another big question. We would like to know where we are now in our efforts. Are we behind or ahead of the market? Do we need to speed up or do we have some time to improve? But we don’t know. So it seems to me that we need to act on the assumption that the process is going very fast. Otherwise, we can all be very late in terms of our markets and our businesses, because what the consumer expects from us is a slightly different bar. And as long as we think that this agenda is not important to us (I am speaking generally - about business in general), as long as we ignore the requests of stakeholders for the company to be sustainable and socially responsible, someone else will get long-term contracts, someone else will work with those consumers who are already demonstrating sustainable development. And we will get those who are generally not in this mainstream. Those who themselves can go bankrupt in a year, two, five years. And who to do business with in such a case?

Thinking about sustainability as a sustainable business model gives you a better chance of embedding the topic into cross-functional departments and boardrooms, and looking at it holistically: as sustainable development on the planet, as sustainable business development, and as a combination of those processes.

The text was prepared based on the materials of the National Forum on Sustainable Development, held on May 22, 2019 by the Vedomosti newspaper with the support of the National Network of the UN Global Compact in Russia

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