EVRAZ’s plans to restore NTMK won’t make Nizhniy Tagil much cleaner, Natural Resources Ministry says

5 May 2012 (09:23)

Sverdlovsk Region Natural Resources Ministry rejected Sverdlovsk Region Union of Industrialists & Entrepreneurs’ request to replace the gross emissions reduction indicator with the carbon intensity per ton reduction one.

In March 2012, the Union suggested to head of region’s government Anatoly Gredin that the carbon intensity limits recommended to a certain enterprise should be based on those employed for the world’s best mining and chemical & metallurgical enterprises.

‘In order to promote further production development, improve on the quality of machinery and technologies, create new productions and jobs that meet today’s production organization and management requirements, we suggest that the carbon intensity per ton reduction indicators should be used instead of the gross emissions reduction one as the key environmental characteristics of a business,’ the Union wrote.

The reply, signed by the Natural Resources Minister Konstantin Kryuchkov and sent to the Union’s Vice President Mikhail Cherepanov, turned the proposal down.

‘Our research has shown that shrinking carbon intensity per ton indicators in combination with growing production outputs lead either to greater air pollution or to a very insignificant drop in this pollution that does not make much of an environmental difference in Sverdlovsk Region’s cities. For one, OAO EVRAZ Nizhniy Tagil Iron & Steel Works (NTMK) is using advanced technologies for production upgrades, but, because of rising production outputs, its emissions will only go down by 8,860 tons (9.7%) in 2020 against 2007. This won’t let us take the city off the list of areas with an extremely high level of air pollution,’ the minister explained.


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