The head of Rosprirodnadzor declared her unwillingness to harm business

Rosprirodnadzor announced the timing of the publication of the rating of the most unenvironmentally friendly companies

A business can be controlled, directed and even advised, but there is no point in “killing”. This was stated to RBC by the head of Rosprirodnadzor Svetlana Radionova, commenting on the preparation of the rating of the most unenvironmentally friendly companies.

The publication of the Environmental Performance Rating by Rosprirodnadzor, which should become the first rating of the most unenvironmentally friendly companies in Russia, is “a rather aggressive thing” that, without a normal discussion, cannot end in anything good for business. This was stated in an interview with RBC by the head of the service, Svetlana Radionova.

“Business must be treated with care. You can control it, direct it, and even advise it, but there is no point in killing the business, ”the official is sure. According to her, on the contrary, there is a need to support business, because “people work there and this is how the state lives.” At the same time, Radionova thinks “fake” most of the ESG reporting of Russian companies, in which environmental goals are declared.

The agency plans to invite representatives of large industrial companies to the negotiating table in mid-March to discuss the methodology in this rating. “We will give companies the opportunity to independently provide information about what they are doing to improve environmental efficiency,” Radionova said. As soon as this discussion is held and the first feedback from the business is received, the service plans to publish this rating by May-June. “If they don’t hear us and don’t come, believing that there is no need to waste time on this, this will also be the answer,” she warned.

She considers the main task of this rating to be an incentive for companies to leave it. “Any negative information about the business is unpleasant and at least damages the image. Such anti-ratings are compiled not in order to simply put companies in their places, but in order to encourage them not to get there at all, ”Radionova noted.

Over the past few years, several major accidents at industrial facilities have occurred in Russia at once, which caused serious damage to the environment. The largest of them is the spill of 21,000 tons of diesel fuel at the CHPP of Norilsk Nickel’s subsidiary in Taimyr. The company paid a record fine for damages – 146 billion rubles. She also promised to invest additional funds to eliminate damage to soils, water and wildlife in the Norilsk region and in Siberia as a whole.