Moscow, June 22, 2020 – RUSAL (SEHK: 486, Moscow Exchange: RUAL), a leading global aluminium producer, will plant over 100 thousand trees in the Irkutsk region as part of the Company's climate strategy for absorbing greenhouse gases.

The Federal Forestry Agency, the Government of the Irkutsk region, and RUSAL have signed an agreement on the voluntary initiatives related to greenhouse gas absorption, which includes a project on planting about 112 thousand trees in the Irkutsk region in 2020. The signatories included Deputy Minister for Natural resources and environment and the Head of  the Russian Federal Forestry Agency, Sergey Anoprienko, acting Governor of the Irkutsk region, Igor Kobzev, and RUSAL’s Vice President, Elena Bezdenezhnykh.

Tree planting is a part of the RUSAL’s Green Million initiative launched in 2019 in the Krasnoyarsk krai and the Irkutsk region, with about 1 million trees planted last year. In addition, the Company pioneered the ongoing project on the aerial forest protection in the Krasnoyarsk krai. Regular annual update of the agreements allows the partners to apply the latest scientific research and develop their expertise to resolve the problem of reforestation in Siberia.

Restoration of Siberian forests is one of RUSAL’s CSR priorities. Most of the Company's aluminium smelters are located in this region. It is worth noting that trees are also planted in the areas affected by fires in previous years.

“The importance of the climate change agenda determines the Company's strategic plans. The current epidemiological situation has not affected these priorities, the reduction of the carbon footprint being one of them. We remain committed to this target as we continue manufacturing ALLOW aluminium with a low carbon footprint and stay focused on developing innovative solutions to further reduce emissions. In this respect, our Green Million initiative is very important, as it managed to demonstrate the scale of business ideas that can be implemented as part of responsible approach to the environment,” noted Evgenii Nikitin, CEO of RUSAL.

The Green Million has become the first voluntary initiative on greenhouse gas absorption in Russia. This program is a part of the global reforestation campaign involving climate campaigners, NGOs, and state and private companies from different countries. Similar initiatives are supported by dozens of organizations around the world: from Plant-for-the-Planet Children´s Initiative with its Trillion Tree Campaign supported by UNEP, to The Bonn Challenge – a global effort to bring 350 million hectares of land into restoration by 2030 – supported by the German government.

Note

RUSAL is an industry leader in low-carbon production. Over 90% of the company's metal is produced with green hydro energy, therefore with no harmful emissions, and the Company is working to further improve this share. The development cutting-edge technology for the production of aluminium using inert anodes is already in an advanced stage. In 2017, the Company presented ALLOW, its new low carbon aluminium brand. All metal produced under the ALLOW brand gained independent verification of the declared carbon footprint of less than 4 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per tonne of aluminium, while the global average is around 12 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per tonne of aluminium (Scope 1&2).

Moreover, RUSAL initiated the establishment of the Climate Partnership of Russia which brings together leading Russian companies interested in climate change projects, low carbon technologies, and reducing the overall anthropogenic impact on the environment.