London-listed Polyus has acquired International Renewable Energy Certificate (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 the large-scale hydropower supply contracts the company had previously entered into, this means Polyus now covers 100% of its electricity demand with renewable energy, the company states.
The certificates acquired by the group for the first quarter of this year represent a total of 303.5 GWh produced from renewable energy sources.
Russian electricity and heat producer TGC-1 (Nizhne-Svirskaya HPP-9 and Verkhne- Svirskaya HPP-12 as generating facilities) and Vitimenergosbyt (Mamakanskaya HPP as generating facility) acted as the certificate issuers.
The transaction with TGC-1 was conducted on the cloud platform of the Sberbank Blockchain Laboratory, where transactions with such certificates are recorded.
The company expects the number of I-REC certificates bought to decline from the second quarter onwards, following the recent agreement for the supply of environment-friendly electricity generated by the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydropower plant to Polyus’ Krasnoyarsk Business Unit.
“Polyus has now become the first major gold mining company globally to cover all of its electricity needs with renewable energy sources. The transition to renewable energy represents a crucial part of the global economy's transformation in our fight against climate change, and is of paramount importance for our company.
“We hope that both Russian and international peers will be encouraged to follow our lead in supporting the advancement of renewables, which is in all of our interests,” CEO Pavel Grachev says.
I-REC certificates represent documented records of certain amounts of energy produced from renewable sources. Certificates can be issued by energy producers and bought by third-party entities.
I-REC certificates are a standardised and globally recognised mechanism to compensate for emissions and support the advancement of renewable energy.
Polyus intends to continue to buying I-REC certificates to fully offset energy consumed from nonrenewable sources.
In this way, the group intends to cover 100% of the electricity it consumes via direct green energy supply and the purchase of I-REC certificates.
Acquiring green certificates represents one of the mechanisms for Polyus to implement its long-term transition to renewable energy, as part of its decarbonisation pathway.
The company is currently developing its climate strategy which will comprise a set of measures related to renewable energy.