Global palladium and high-grade nickel leader Nornickel has created an independent environmental task team of the board of directors to monitor progress in the Russian major’s environmental programmes.

The management team included Andrey Bougrov as Nornickel’s senior VP, who will oversee the company’s sustainable development efforts.

Chairperson Gareth Penny said that the task team would lean on the services of independent specialist firms to investigate current issues and to ensure progress in the delivery of the group’s programmes.

“Today, we face greater challenges relevant for everyone around the globe — climate change and its impact on the Arctic region and our operations,” Penny in a July 2 statement.

The announcement follows a major diesel spill at the company’s operations in Russia’s Far North at the beginning at the end of May. About 20 000 t of diesel spilled from a reservoir owned Nornickel’s power and utility unit. The fuel has polluted land and local rivers that drain into a lake that’s linked to the Kara Sea.

Nornickel reported that its management had presented to the board’s June 30 meeting an update on its clean-up efforts and also presented a long-term programme to monitor the condition of permafrost and remedy the environmental damage.

A total of over 33 000 t of water and fuel mixture had been collected in the area, with over 172 000 t of contaminated soil removed. According to the management’s estimates, over 90% of spilt fuel have been collected and removed to date, Nornickel said.

Bougrov has been with the company since 2013. He has considerable experience in dealing with ESG matters and is well positioned to coordinate activities across the various stakeholder groups. In addition, the post of deputy director for ecology will be introduced in the Polar division of Nornickel.

Commenting on his appointment, Bougrov said that Nornickel plans to step up its cooperation with Russian and foreign researchers and specialist organisations focused on Arctic ecology and permafrost zones to jointly study permafrost environments and find solutions to improve industrial safety in the Arctic region.

“Our joint efforts based on transparency will provide us with the most advanced solutions, while also contributing to the protection of the Arctic nature,” said Bougrov.