Norilsk Nickel and RusHydro signed a sales agreement for the purchase of 10,000 carbon units, which became the largest public transaction on the Russian carbon market to date.
Carbon units are an instrument of the law on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, they are issued when companies reduce emissions below the quotas allocated to them and can be sold or transferred to companies whose emissions exceed quotas and counted by them when assessing their negative impact on the environment.
The carbon units were received from RusHydro's implementation of the climate project to convert Vladivostok CHPP-2 from coal to gas.
"This is the first deal of this format for Norilsk Nickel. It confirms the company's active participation in the climate agenda, and also acts as a driver for the maintenance and development of the national market for carbon units of the Russian Federation. This is another step towards decarbonization of the production cycle and the release of products that meet modern environmental trends," said Stanislav Seleznev, Norilsk Nickel Vice President for Ecology and Industrial Safety.
Information on purchased carbon units will be put into the Register of Carbon Units of the Russian Federation on the account of Norilsk Nickel. If necessary, the company can write off carbon units from its balance sheet, thereby reducing gross greenhouse gas emissions and the cost of paying the future carbon tax.
Theodor Lisovoy, Managing Editor, Rough&Polished