Media Center

TMK hosts an off-site meeting of ESG and environmental experts as part of the ECOTECH-LEADER 2021 national award

TMK’s Volzhsky Pipe Plant (VTZ) has hosted a joint off-site meeting of the Committee on Environmental Management and Ecology under the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Expert Council of the ECOTECH-LEADER national award. At the meeting, VTZ presented its project to incorporate ESG principles into an enterprise environmental management system, nominated for the ECOTECH-LEADER 2021 environmental award in the Effective Environmental Management category.

The event was attended by Sergey Alexeev, Chairman of the Committee on Environmental Management and Ecology under the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Deputy Chairman of the Public Council of the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Distinguished Ecologist of Russia; Vitaly Rasnitsyn, Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the ECOTECH-LEADER 2021 national award; Dmitry Fedorov, Director of the Green Civilization non-profit organization; representatives of the Volgograd and Volzhsky Chambers of Commerce and Industry, as well as environmental engineers from VTZ and other industrial enterprises located in the region. The meeting participants discussed the latest solutions for ensuring environmentally safe operations, as well as the adoption of best available technologies, rational use of natural resources, and minimization of environmental pollution.

Elena Maslova, Head of VTZ’s Environmental Service, shared her team’s experience integrating ESG principles into the environmental management system of the plant, including among others the construction of ECO HOUSE TMK, an advanced administrative and laboratory complex; the delivery of the ECOLAB environmental education project to raise environmental awareness among the region’s residents; setting up a Public Environmental Council at the plant, comprised of VTZ’s environmental engineers and employees; and involvement in establishing a specialized department of industrial ecology at Volgograd State Technical University.

As part of the off-site meeting, environmental experts also conducted a public expert review of VTZ’s environmental performance, which resulted in high marks for its operations.

“VTZ sets a very good example of a modern environmental policy in action. My colleagues and I were very pleased to confirm that the plant is on the right track. VTZ is already actively addressing the task of transforming the entire industry, which is actually a national challenge,” said Sergey Alexeev.

“The plant is implementing a major investment program to retrofit its production facilities with a focus precisely on green solutions, as well as participates in TMK’s corporate programs to reduce carbon footprint and energy consumption, and increase the water recycling ratio. We also promote our practices externally and strongly focus on raising environmental awareness. For example, the plant uses its landfill as a research and training ground, and ECO HOUSE TMK serves as a platform for scientific discussions and meetings of environmental experts from all over the region to discuss environmental initiatives. At the same time, the plant sets new ambitious targets for improving environmental performance, and its nomination for the national environmental award is an extra boost for this effort,” said Sergey Chetverikov, Managing Director of VTZ.

The ECOTECH-LEADER 2021 National Environmental Technology Award, which has TMK as its strategic partner, recognizes achievements in developing, introducing and promoting the best available technology in environmental protection and management and spans 22 categories. The list of the award’s nominees includes 89 companies from 52 regions of Russia. The winners will be announced on October 29.