UrBC, Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Region, April 12, 2012. The Russian Federation Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina’s decree laid out the list of projects that comply with Article 6 of the Kyoto Protocol in accordance with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. This list comprises two projects run by Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK).

One of the approved projects has to do with production of slab ingots through electric steel smelting, while the other one deals with the launch of new agglomerate production technologies and the new techniques of charging furnaces at MMK. The former provides for a 1.2m-ton decrease in the amount of CO2 pollution in 2008-2012, while the introduction of the modern agglomerate production and furnace charge technologies (for one, he installation of bell-less tops) will reduce the greenhouse gas emission by another 600,000 tons over the same time period. MMK collaborates with CarbonTrade&Finance on these projects, with the latter buying all the ERUs and providing full support of the projects.

This means MMK got as many as three of its joint projects approved altogether: the Russian Economic Development Ministry okayed the joint implementation project on the launch of electric-smelting steel production at MMK earlier. MMK is thus a company with a record-setting number of joint implementation projects among the Russian metallurgical enterprises, which was possible due to all the production upgrades.

MMK PR Department reports that the implementation of these projects makes a significant environmental impact: the total drop in emission volumes resulting from the three projects in 2008-2012 is to come to over 7m tons of CO2.

As an investor in a joint implementation project, MMK is entitled to selling its emission reduction units (ERUs) to European enterprises which fail to meet their ERU quotas.

All the money obtained through selling the ERUs will be reinvested in environmental projects, MMK told Russia’s Ministry for Natural Resources and the Economic Development Ministry.