PAO Severstal, one of the world's largest vertically integrated steel and mining companies, has set an additional target to reduce air pollutant emissions for the Cherepovets Steel Works (CherMK).
Severstal has set itself a more ambitious goal of reducing specific emissions of dust, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides into the air separately for CherMK. Specific emissions should decrease in 2026 to 4.28 kg /t of steel from 5.39 kg /t of steel in 2017, or by 20%. Achieving this goal will allow the phased implementation of measures to reduce emissions into the atmosphere of the targeted environmental program, developed taking into account the strategy of technological development of the enterprise, including new production facilities for blast furnace No. 3 and coke oven battery No. 11.
Severstal also reports interim results to achieve the goal of rational water use. Thus, the company set a goal to reduce the discharge of problematic pollutants by 12% by 2026 compared to the 2017 indicator. Intermediate results in reducing the total discharge of pollutants amounted to 16.6%. This year, Severstal completed the CDP Water Security for the first time and released a report on water protection activities. It should be noted that CherMK has the best indicator in the industry in terms of the closedness of the circulating water supply system at 98.4% of all water required to support production.
In the area of environmental protection, Severstal has set a goal to reduce the amount of waste disposed of by 20% by 2026 compared to 2017. The interim target was fulfilled by 62.4%. Annually CherMK generates about seven million tons of various waste, of which 96.6% are recycled or sold (based on the results of 9 months of 2021).
“Environmental protection is one of Severstal's top priorities at all stages of production. To achieve leadership in ESG and in environmental protection, Severstal implements industry best practices and sets ambitious mitigation targets that exceed legal requirements. The goal of reducing the specific emissions of dust, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides is supported by measures providing for the technological re-equipment of production facilities, the reconstruction of gas cleaning equipment and aspiration systems. Severstal is currently planning to update and integrate the Sustainable Development Goals into a single Sustainable Development Strategy, which will be formed next year. In addition to the above, our plans include training the Board of Directors of the company in the direction of sustainable development. The program has already been formed, "said Alexander Shevelev, CEO of Severstal.
