Rusal spoke about its environmental programs

Over 16 years, Rusal has achieved a 36% reduction in annual pollutant emissions, an 80% reduction in production waste generation, and a 74% reduction in production wastewater discharge. This was reported by Ivan Rebrik, Advisor on Ecology and Environmental Protection of the company, at the forum "Non-ferrous Metals of Russia and CIS: mining, construction and modernization of enterprises".

According to the company's representative, Rusal's priority projects include reducing the carbon footprint of aluminum, reducing atmospheric emissions, achieving closed-loop water rotation at the main production processes, increasing waste reuse, ensuring safe operation of waste disposal facilities, as well as preserving biodiversity and improving the quality of ecosystem services.

For each of these areas, the company has set targets. For example, by 2035, Rusal intends to reduce specific greenhouse gas emissions per ton of metal by at least 30%, excluding neutralization of emissions. This result should be achieved through the introduction of advanced electrolysis technologies (pre-fired anode and inert anode) and an energy efficiency program. It is also supported by a shift to carbon-free energy sources and an increase in the use of aluminum scrap.

By 2027, Rebrik continued, the company is going to bring to zero the volume of excess emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere, and by 2035 - to achieve a significant reduction in emissions of pollutants per ton of aluminum. Rusal noted that achieving these goals will require the widespread introduction of environmentally friendly technologies, such as EcoSoderberg. This is the company's own engineering development, which is applied at the Bratsk, Irkutsk, Novokuznetsk, Krasnoyarsk and Volgograd aluminum smelters. In addition, the Bratsk and Krasnoyarsk smelters are also implementing the company's pre-fired anode technology, which significantly reduces environmental impact.

Another challenge facing the company, which Rebrik described, is to bring the share of recycled water supply in the production of alumina, aluminum and finished aluminum products to 100% by 2027. Currently, this level is almost 92%. Employees of the company's enterprises conduct regular inspections of water supply facilities to prevent leaks and other losses, and monitor the quality of industrial effluents as part of industrial environmental control.

As for waste utilization, one of the successful practices has been the use of nepheline sludge in cement production and road construction. "What we can't use, we have to safely dispose of. Rusal has 38 waste disposal facilities around the world, and several years ago we conducted a total inspection of their condition. Plans for safe operation and elimination of possible accidents were developed for each facility," said the company representative.

The company is also engaged in land reclamation. "If we look at the structure of disturbed lands, more than 60% are lands related to mining. At the same time, the ratio of restored lands to disturbed lands is more than 1. In other words, we are restoring more land than we are disturbing. In 2023, the area of disturbed lands amounted to 164 hectares, while the area of reclaimed lands amounted to 290 hectares", - noted the advisor on ecology and environmental protection activities.

In addition, Rusal implements projects to preserve biodiversity and rare species. We are talking, in particular, about research in nature reserves and national parks, a program to monitor and preserve the population of snow leopard and forest reindeer, a program of fish reproduction in the Selenga and Yenisei rivers.

"If we look at the evolution of the company's development in terms of reducing the negative impact on the environment, we can see that a lot has been done and a lot more needs to be done. It is important to note that in the past, the company has sought to consistently improve environmental performance, taking into account practical opportunities and socio-economic factors. And now we are creating a fundamentally new approach to production using modern available technologies, including those developed by our specialists, the company's engineers," Rebrik emphasized.