With the extension, nine of RUSAL’s facilities have already confirmed that their activities meet the requirements of the ASI. In 2019, RUSAL’s headquarters and three production sites — Boksit Timana (bauxite mining), Urals aluminum smelter (alumina refining) and Irkutsk aluminum smelter (aluminum smelting, casthouse and alloys production) — were successfully certified against the ASI Standards. The company said it plans to continue certification of its facilities.

“The expansion of the ASI certification serves as additional confirmation of our success in implementing best ESG practices,” RUSAL’s CEO Evgenii Nikitin said. “Despite the volatility of the global market, RUSAL always follows sustainable principles and strives to actively participate in the new, low-carbon reality, meeting the demand for products with minimal impact on the environment.” The ASI Performance Standard has been developed in collaboration with the industry, downstream users and nongovernmental organizations and is recognized as the only sustainability supply-chain standard applicable across the entire aluminum value chain. The ASI Performance Standard requirements cover 11 groups of criteria ranging from business ethics and governance, environmental performance, human rights and social practices.

In related news, Rusal’s parent, En+ Group, the largest private sector generator of hydropower, is upgrading the Irkutsk hydroelectric power plant (HPP) in eastern Siberia by installing a second hydraulic turbine. En+ Group’s HPP assets allow it and Rusal to produce and sell “green” aluminum. “Having already launched the first new hydraulic unit at the Irkutsk HPP, we are continuing to progress with the HPP’s equipment modernization project,” Mikhail Hardikov, head of En+ Group’s energy sector, said. “This will increase overall performance and the HPP’s capacity by another 23 megawatts. It will also allow us to reduce the repair works’ cost, improve units’ operating characteristics and improve occupational safety.” The Irkutsk HPP renovation program is part of En+ Group’s large-scale modernization project called New Energy, implemented at the Angara-Yenisei cascade HPPs (Ust-Ilimsk, Bratsk, Irkutsk and Krasnoyarsk HPPs), which is worth 21 billion roubles ($269 million). It was launched in 2007 at the suggestion of the company’s founder Oleg Deripaska.