Canada Russia Business Council hosted a Natural Resources Working Group entitled" Cleantech in Mining, Metals and Oil&Gas" on November 2, 2021. 

The meeting participants explored the possibilities of bilateral cooperation in the field of clean technologies in the natural resources sector to create a stronger ecosystem of technological innovation in both countries' public and private sectors, which would allow the implementation of new ideas to the market and a further companies' growth. The group was co-chaired by Paula Tolksdorff, Regional Director, Africa, ESG; Hatch representing Canada and  Nazim Efendiev, CEO, Metalloinvest representing the Russian Federation.

The moderator of the session, Robert Machowski, Regional Director - Russia and CIS, Hatch, outlined the importance and necessity of joint and concerted efforts of all countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and noted that already now, the efforts of companies within the framework of ESG are leading to the cost reduction and improvements in risk management.

During the Sessions, the following topics were discussed:

· Tomas Lopez Cabanillas, Deputy Director, International Affairs and Trade Division, Natural Resources Canada, presented national approaches to ensure that Canada's commitments to the UN Sustainable Development Goals are met and highlighted the use of clean technologies in Canada's mining sector.

· Michal Kowalczyk, Vice-President, ESG Strategy, Kinross Gold, spoke about Kinross Gold's energy efficiency approach and energy sources diversification. The company organized its Committee on Renewable Energy and Alternative Energy Sources back in 2006 and actively develops sustainable approaches in this direction.

·Yuri Gavrilov, Director for Strategy, Development and Transformation at Metalloinvest, spoke about the “green metallurgy” strategy. In 2020, Metalloinvest, together with KPMG, developed a climate strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050. 

·Svetlana Ivchenko, Director of the Department for Sustainability, Norilsk Nickel, spoke about the organization's environmental protection strategy and climate change. Svetlana noted that some of the key achievements of 2021 were NorNickel's: metals' carbon footprint calculation methodology development and implementation and independent analysis of Norilsk Nickel's greenhouse gas emissions in 2019-2020 by Ernst & Young.

·Trevor Bergfeldt, Global Director, Decarbonization and Sustainability, Hatch, presented his topic on carbon footprint reduction in the mining and metals industries. Trevor provided an overview of decarbonization global driving forces and presented a proven methodology for identifying, prioritizing and implementing a portfolio of initiatives to achieve greenhouse gas and energy emission reduction targets.

·Ryan McEachern, Managing Director, MSTA, gave a brief overview of the Canadian companies that increase the responsibility in the mining industry.

· Oleg Pertsovskiy, Operations Director, Cluster of Energy-Efficient Technologies, Skolkovo, spoke about the emerging technologies in the green industry field and the leading start-ups' accelerators in Russia.

The group's participants and co-chairs agreed to continue working together on the CRBC platform. They noted that this kind of dialogue between regions, regulators, and industry shows the possibility to create and accelerate positive change by strengthening relationships, sharing experiences, best practices, and technologies. Moreover, these discussions are critical in the global movement towards a sustainable, prosperous and just world economy.