Abramchenko instructed to introduce penalties for companies for emissions in 12 cities. Those who have not reduced air pollution by 20 percent will be fined

Deputy Prime Minister Viktoria Abramchenko, in charge of ecology, instructed the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources to develop a bill on administrative responsibility for non-observance of quotas for emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere in 12 industrial centers participating in the Clean Air project. We are talking about punishment for those companies and individual entrepreneurs who do not meet the targets to reduce emissions by 20%, established by the law "On conducting an experiment to quota pollutant emissions." The document must be submitted to the government by October 30, 2021.

The instruction is stated in the minutes of the meeting with Abramchenko on adjusting the comprehensive plan to reduce emissions of harmful substances in one of these 12 industrial centers - Cherepovets, which took place on May 25. RBC has a copy of the document, its authenticity was confirmed by the representative of the Deputy Prime Minister Marta Galicheva. Among the types of administrative punishments for companies in the Code of Administrative Offenses (CAO), in particular, warnings, fines and suspension of activities are provided.

The Ministry of Economic Development did not submit the issue for consideration, said a representative of the department. RBC sent inquiries to the press services of the Ministry of Finance and Rosprirodnadzor.

Who is involved in the emissions quota experiment

In 2019, a law was passed on the experiment on emission quotas. It is held from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2024 in industrial centers included in the federal project "Clean Air" (part of the national project "Ecology") - Bratsk, Krasnoyarsk, Lipetsk, Magnitogorsk, Mednogorsk, Nizhny Tagil, Novokuznetsk, Norilsk, Omsk, Chelyabinsk, Cherepovets and Chita.

It is planned to spend 500 billion rubles to reduce the level of air pollution in these cities. over six years, of which a little more than 100 billion rubles. falls on budget funds.

Within the framework of the project, enterprises are required to develop action plans to achieve emission quotas established by Rosprirodnadzor, and coordinate them with the Ministry of Natural Resources. Rosprirodnadzor will check the performance of work to reduce emissions and air purification after the expiration of the terms of agreements providing for the implementation of measures. Enterprises report monthly on the progress of work to Rosprirodnadzor and regional governments.

The experiment on quotas for air polluting emissions involves 487 objects in 12 cities, including enterprises, the private sector and transport infrastructure. They should reduce their harmful emissions by 20% by 2024. The law does not provide for liability for failure to fulfill this goal.

The Emissions Quota Experiment Law establishes the powers to supervise the implementation of the requirements of this law. So any violation provided for by the Code of Administrative Offenses may result in fines, Pavel Ikkert, managing partner of the law firm Ikkert and Partners, told RBC. He admitted that the Deputy Prime Minister's instruction may be about administrative responsibility precisely for undeveloped or untimely development of a plan of measures to reduce emissions. According to Ikkert, in accordance with the Code of Administrative Offenses, the fine for air pollution is 100 thousand rubles. for legal entities. But fines can be added, for example, for concealing information about such violations (this is another 20-80 thousand rubles), the expert added.

As of May 2021, 33 agreements were concluded for 473.5 billion rubles. between the Ministry of Natural Resources, Rosprirodnadzor, regional governments and enterprises. Under these agreements, companies and individual entrepreneurs undertake obligations to implement environmental protection measures at the expense of extra-budgetary funds. Among the signatories to these quadrilateral emission quota agreements are UC Rusal (its facilities are located in Bratsk and Krasnoyarsk), Norilsk Nickel (Norilsk), Evraz (Nizhny Tagil and Novokuznetsk), Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Plant (MMK, Magnitogorsk), Severstal (the main asset - in Cherepovets) and "Fosagro" (Cherepovets), RBC told the Ministry of Natural Resources. Another 11 agreements with companies are expected to be concluded, a representative of Rosprirodnadzor told RBC.

How companies responded to the risk of administrative penalties

Metallurgical companies operate in most of the 12 cities of the Clean Air program. The MMK representative recalled that this year the company's environmental costs will amount to 9.3 billion rubles, of which more than half - 4.9 billion rubles. - will be directed to the construction and reconstruction of environmental protection facilities for the protection of atmospheric air. The remaining amount will go to the construction and reconstruction of water protection facilities and waste disposal facilities. These indicators, he said, are one third higher than the environmental investments of 2020, when the plant allocated RUB 7 billion for environmental purposes.

The press service of Severstal said that, having become a participant in the national project "Clean Air", the company pledged to implement 16 projects worth 10.5 billion rubles. This will reduce emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere of Cherepovets by 22.5% by 2025. One of these activities is being implemented at the Olkon iron ore asset, the rest in Cherepovets. Severstal has already reduced emissions by more than 12%, which is almost 36 thousand tons of emissions, and allocated 6.8 billion rubles for this, the company representative emphasized.

In 2016–2020, Phosagro allocated RUB 33.7 billion to implement projects and introduce technologies that have an environmental effect, including RUB 15.7 billion for the Cherepovets complex, ”the company's CEO said at the end of May. Apatit (part of Phosagro) Alexander Gilgenberg.

Under the agreements signed, Evraz is implementing ten environmental projects in Nizhny Tagil and Novokuznetsk, the total volume of emissions will decrease by 62.6 thousand tons by 2025 (compared to 2017), a company representative told RBC. To date, Evraz has invested 3.65 billion rubles. and implemented six projects, the effect of which is to reduce emissions by 22 thousand tons, he added.

Reducing the impact on the environment is one of the priorities of UC Rusal and is enshrined in the company's environmental policy, said its representative. According to him, UC Rusal fulfills all obligations under the federal project "Clean Air" exactly on time agreed with the authorities of cities and subjects of the Federation.

RBC sent requests for participation in the experiment on emission quotas to representatives of Norilsk Nickel, NLMK Group (Lipetsk) and UMMC (Mednogorsk).

Source: https://www.rbc.ru