“RUSAL had enough courage to step into the ‘unchartered waters’ and try things which other peer companies hadn’t tried”, Irina Bakhtina, Chief Sustainability Officer, Rusal

 A graduate in journalism from the Far Eastern State University (Vladivostok), Irina Bakhtina has also completed the INSEAD Business School executive program in Strategic Management and the externship of the Higher School of Management in Economics from St. Petersburg State University.

Earlier, Irina Bakhtina served as Deputy Prime Minister of the Komi Republic, where she was responsible for the socio-economic development and the formation of investment and innovation policy in the region, including the Arctic zone of Russia.

To know her view about sustainable development and how Rusal is implementing sustainable development strategy across all divisions of the company and on the Group’s wider climate strategy aimed at achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, read the interview below:

AlCircle:  How do you describe RUSAL's sustainable development on a global scale?

Ms Irina Bakhtina: With the launch of ALLOW, a low carbon aluminium (LCA) with a carbon footprint 4 to 5 times lower than the industry average (Scopes 1 and 2 at smelters), as early as 2017, this turned RUSAL into the largest LCA supplier globally. RUSAL's public recognition for sustainable development is particularly high, naturally, in rankings like CDP Climate (A-, highest across the sector) – please refer to my response to Q2 to see why, but needs to reflect also ongoing improvements in other environmental (beyond climate agenda), social and corporate governance aspects which are happening day by day.  Our gold level in Forbes Russia's 2021 Top Employer Rating or silver medal in EcoVadis Sustainability Rating last month is clear signs of it.

Our ESG strategy as it stands today, at a new stage, is about further transformation aimed at creating a new class of assets in the aluminium sector – future fit to meet the low carbon and circular economy demands, carbon neutral by 2050 and reasonably well balanced between primary and secondary material sourcing, based on the sustainable value chain and progressive technological solutions.

AlCircle:  Where does RUSAL stand today in the development of ESG strategy when compared to the other aluminium producers?

Ms Irina Bakhtina: In the space of sustainable development, RUSAL as one of the top aluminium suppliers globally had found itself in the pioneering role many times – a result of its strategic vision and passionate leadership of the group. RUSAL was one of the first global and Russian companies to have joined the UN Global Compact as early as 2002, to have launched its annual non-financial reporting discipline as early as 2005, and to have published its first set of climate goals as early as 2007 (well before the Paris Agreement adopted in 2015). The latest example of true thought leadership by RUSAL was a 2050 NetZero ambition set on the group level in early 2021 ahead of a good half of the peer companies.

AlCircle: Why the need for ESG has become so vital in the global aluminium industry?

Ms Irina Bakhtina: Aluminium has been widely recognized as one of those materials that are already playing and will play a more profound role in building new, low carbon and circular, economy for the future. The demand for "green" aluminium as a truly circular (recycle ready) and sustainable material has been constantly growing across an array of sectors – from renewable energy infrastructure to automobile, and from urban construction to packaging of beverages and beauty products.  That's why top global aluminium companies like RUSAL have to be prepared to supply truly low carbon metal and make it in a way that responds to the highest environmental, social, and corporate governance standards our customers expect from us, both today and tomorrow.

AlCircle: Environmental, social and corporate governance is a trending topic in the world of manufacturing. What has RUSAL done so divergent from others to lead the way?

Ms Irina Bakhtina: As mentioned above, RUSAL had enough courage to step into these "unchartered waters" and try things that other peer companies hadn’t tried. Focusing on 1-2 top areas for the business transformation has proven to be the right thing and even after 2015, as the seventeen UN Sustainable Development Goals were adopted as a workable framework for the governments and private sector to move towards 2030, RUSAL chose to be focused on just a few of the most closely associated with the core aspects of the business transformation and industrial transition agenda like e.g. SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth, SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production, SDG 13 Climate Action, SDG 15 Life on Land, and a couple of others.

Focus as our adherence to getting difficult goals achieved through consistent efforts year after year, and balance as our genuine interest to listen to all key stakeholder groups and hear their priorities before taking our decisions in a complex and multidimensional space of ESG transformation – are probably the two things which together make RUSAL's journey towards sustainability so special (though this is supposed to be a commonplace approach it is unfortunately not that common).

Why balance is so important, you may ask? This is because sustainability is aimed to be a multistakeholder model closely linked to a concept of shared value, where six key groups of stakeholders – not only investors or shareholders, but also employees, suppliers, customers, local communities, and the Planet.  This is why we are not prepared to offer advantages to one of these groups at the cost of disadvantages for another.  We are building the case for 'affordable sustainability', a concept rather rarely heard of but making a lot of sense if you appreciate the scale of transformation our business has to go through in the current decade and the economic downsides we need to offset as we go.

AlCircle: Could you tell us more about the recent announcements on the medical centres in Siberia (RUSAL donated 105 mln to tackle COVID)? Why is this important to RUSAL?

Ms Irina Bakhtina: RUSAL funded seven emergency medical centres in Siberia and the Urals which opened last year to treat patients suffering from COVID-19 and pneumonia. This is particularly important at the moment as the world is still battling with the impacts and repercussions of the pandemic. The Company donated over $105 million (eight billion Rubles) to construct the centres and to fight COVID. This included all equipment required to treat patients as well as personal protective equipment and ambulances for regional hospitals.

Providing financial and practical medical support to regional healthcare systems, which often lack the facilities found in major cities, is important for RUSAL. The need for such essential health services in remote regions has become even more crucial against the backdrop of a global pandemic.

AlCircle: What is the strategy for the new Taishet plant and how will it influence global standards for low-carbon aluminium production?

Ms Irina Bakhtina: Taishet aluminium smelter (located in Irkutsk region, Siberia) is the only low-carbon aluminium Greenfield smelter to be launched outside of China over the last five years.

This is the world’s most advanced low-carbon aluminium production plant and it is another step towards the decarbonisation of our operations and consumer product chains. Taishet smelter will run entirely on hydroelectric power, 100% of the aluminium produced will have a low carbon footprint and can be certified under our brand of low-carbon aluminium ALLOW.

Once fully operational, the smelter is expected to produce 428.5 thousand tons of low-carbon aluminium per year during its first phase and will play a critical role in Taishet’s overall social and economic development, with RUSAL fully committed to supporting local communities.