RUSAL, one of the world's largest aluminium producers, has made a significant stride in its sustainability efforts by issuing 1,351,056 carbon units in Russia's national carbon registry. This move marks the company's entry into the country's voluntary carbon market, where RUSAL now accounts for more than 85% of the entire volume. The issuance of these carbon units underscores RUSAL's commitment to reducing its environmental footprint and solidifies its position as a leader in driving the sustainability agenda.
The registered carbon units represent verified emissions cuts from Russia's first forest carbon offset project, implemented by RUSAL in 2019 in the context of the Paris Agreement. The project focuses on forest protection, with the company voluntarily managing over half a million hectares of pristine Siberian forestland, an area equivalent to the size of two Luxembourgs, that is most prone to wildfires.
Through continuous aerial monitoring, personnel training, and equipping rapid response firefighting teams, RUSAL has significantly reduced the number of wildfires in the managed forestland. The projected greenhouse gas emission reductions under the project through 2033 exceed 5 million metric tons of CO₂ equivalent. Since the project's inception in 2019, the company has cut over 1.3 million metric tons of CO₂, which is approximately equivalent to taking 500,000 cars off the road.
The results of RUSAL's carbon offset project were verified and confirmed by the Saint Petersburg Forestry Research Institute, lending credibility to the company's sustainability efforts. RUSAL has the option to use the carbon units to offset its own carbon footprint across its production facilities or to sell them to others within the carbon market.
Elena Myakotnikova, RUSAL's Chief Sustainability Officer, emphasized the significance of this milestone, stating, "This marks a significant milestone for both RUSAL and the national carbon units market, raising the benchmark and reinforcing RUSAL's position as a leader in sustainability. Preventing deforestation and using vast forestlands to offset carbon footprint stand as key priorities on our path to becoming net-zero by 2050. We are also proud of pioneering the country's first forest carbon offset project. Currently, we are actively developing a series of engineered solutions to complement this nature-based initiative to combat climate change."
RUSAL's incremental environmental action is at the core of its strategy to achieve its 2050 net-zero target while contributing to sustainable development and accelerating the transition to a greener economy. The company is the largest producer of low-carbon aluminium and ranks among the cleanest industrial giants globally, utilizing renewable hydropower to produce over 95% of its metal.
Russia established its own system for emissions trading in 2022. Prior to RUSAL's issuance of carbon units, the total volume of carbon units registered in the country's voluntary carbon market stood below 200,000. With this move, RUSAL now accounts for an impressive 85% of all carbon units issued in the country, demonstrating its leadership in the sustainability domain.
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