SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT
2019

To reduce air emissions while increasing overall production efficiency, Metinvest implemented several key projects in 2019.

• After overhauling blast furnace no. 3, Azovstal decreased the dust emissions of its blast furnace unit and provided the furnace with new environmental protection equipment.
• Within the sinter plant reconstruction project, Ilyich Steel has already commissioned new bag filters for the six sintering machines in its sintering and cooling zones, as well as for another six machines in its sintering zones where the cooling zones were previously equipped with high-efficiency electrostatic filters.
• Mariupol Machining and Repair Plant reduced dust emissions by 30% after modernising its gas treatment plant and shot-blasting chamber.
• Zaporizhia Coke overhauled three coke batteries, which lowered its emissions by 45%.

We have chosen a risk-based approach to integrate climate risks into our business plans and processes, allowing us to minimise our carbon emissions in the future.

Determining our current level of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as well as formulating goals and approaches to reduce our impact on the climate, is very important for Metinvest and makes up just one part of our general approach to environmental protection.

This approach meant that in 2019 we reduced our direct GHG emissions by 10% year-on-year to 8.8 million metric tonnes of CO₂ equivalent.

Water is an integral part of Metinvest’s production processes, so we strive to uphold high national standards for water usage and discharge.

During our production processes, we do not withdraw water from areas undergoing water stress (i.e. where water availability is limited). Additionally, our assets regularly conduct instrumental and laboratory studies of surface and wastewater to track their impact and control their compliance with environmental standards.

To ensure that we use water as responsibly as possible, we are launching new projects to modernise wastewater treatment equipment, recycle the water used in technological processes and reuse mining and wastewater. At our mining assets, water circulates in a closed cycle between tailings storage facilities and plants.

In 2019, Metinvest decreased its overall water withdrawal by 9% and water discharge by 10%. We accomplished this by implementing projects to modernise wastewater treatment equipment, recycling water used in technological processes and reusing mining and wastewater.

We make every effort to reduce the waste we create. As part of our approach to managing waste generation, we also seek to reuse and recycle waste in production processes as much as possible.

In 2019, Metinvest generated 234 million tonnes of waste, 94% of which was non-hazardous waste from mining assets in the form of overburden and tailings. During the reporting period, 28% of all waste by volume was recycled. The total weight of recycled waste increased by 9% year-on-year in 2019, which is testimony to the positive effects of the Group’s multi-pronged effort to improve operations and cut down on waste disposal.

We minimise waste storage spaces by depositing our industrial waste in specially designated areas, such as mining allotments and slag and sludge ponds. We have also enacted practices to ensure that mining allotments are used rationally. For example, overburden rocks are used at our mining assets for crushed stone production, as well as for the construction and repair of automobile and railway links at mines.

Metinvest does not operate in any protected natural areas, and its activities do not impact the habitats of species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List or national conservation list. However, we still have a number of initiatives in place to preserve biodiversity and engage in land restoration in our areas of activity. These include:

• The biological restoration of old overburden dumps (from 2014 to 2019, Ingulets GOK’s efforts to restore disturbed lands encompassed a total area of 26.38 hectares).
• Protecting natural landscapes (Ingulets GOK undertakes voluntary commitments to support the Vizirka wildlife sanctuary).
• Reducing overburden storage spaces (Central GOK is working to re-cultivate quarry no. 2; in 2019, it deposited 11 million tonnes of waste rock into the quarry).
• Restoring the Dnipro River (the Zaporizhstal JV actively participates in projects to restore and protect the river).

Metinvest continues to reduce the energy consumption of its production assets and cut its consumption of natural resources.

Since 2013, we have been implementing an energy management system that conforms to the ISO 50001:2011 international standard and eight of the Group’s assets have certified their energy management systems as compliant with its requirements . In 2019, Ingulets GOK was certified in accordance with ISO 50001:2018, the newest energy management system standard.

We successfully identified opportunities to recover and utilise energy sources, which allowed us to increase the total amount of energy saved in 2019 by 22% year-on-year. We completed various energy-saving programmes at our production assets, which led to an economic effect of US$38.2 million.

We also continued to implement joint energy efficiency projects with YASNO, a provider of energy efficiency solutions in Ukraine, under energy service contracts. In 2019, our collaboration with YASNO resulted in the implementation of 12 projects focused on improving the efficiency of secondary fuel use, modernising fuel-consuming units, increasing the efficiency of equipment, modernising slurry pumps and devising hydraulic schemes. The annual economic effect of these projects totals US$5.6 million, with an estimated energy saving of 87 million kWh/year.