Severstal

No leading practices were identified for the company in the governance and strategy area.

Water 
The company has targets to reduce water pollution and reports progress against them.

Solid and air pollution 
The company reports some activities to reduce plastic use and waste in its own operations. The company has time-bound targets to reduce air pollutants across the most material parts of its value chain. The company reports regularly against these targets. The company reports regularly on air quality parameters of emissions of harmful air pollutants.

No leading practices were identified for the company in the social inclusion and community impact area.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
While Severstal disclose a 2021 materiality matrix, it does not disclose group-wide targets on key sustainability topics for the most material parts of its value chain according to the SBTN materiality table. No evidence was found that the company links performance criteria in senior executives’ remuneration policies to targets and objectives which cover nature, including biodiversity, and social issues. The company also does not disclose whether its highest governance body has expertise regarding nature-related topics.

Stakeholder engagement
While the company discloses an overview of the issues raised during its stakeholder engagement activities as well as through which channels it engages with various stakeholder groups, it has an opportunity to disclose the outcomes of its stakeholder engagement activities and its integration into its sustainability strategy beyond its materiality assessment.

Lobbying
While Severstal discloses a list of trade associations of which it is a member, it does not disclose a clear and detailed framework for assessing alignment of its trade associations with nature-positive policies. The company also does not report (potential) misalignment between the lobbying activities of its trade associations and nature-positive policies.

Impact and dependencies assessment
The company does not disclose any assessment of its impacts on nature, including biodiversity, within its own operations or its supply chain. The company does not disclose any assessment of its dependencies on nature within its own operations or the locations of its upstream business relationships.

Key areas and species
While Severstal discloses the locations that are in or adjacent to areas important for biodiversity within its own operations, it does not disclose such locations for its suppliers. The company discloses some information on species but no further evidence that the company discloses species existing in or adjacent to its own locations could be found in the public domain. The company has an opportunity to disclose species populations existing in or adjacent to the locations of its suppliers. The company also does not disclose the status according to national and international conservation lists of species identified in its own locations.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
Severstal does not disclose a commitment to ensure zero conversion nor does it disclose a commitment to minimise ecosystem conversion. The company does not disclose activities to minimise ecosystem conversion. The company is committed to restoring ecosystems. While the company discloses the are of reclaimed land, no further evidence that the company discloses details and outcomes of ecosystem restoration projects in areas affected by its own operations or upstream business relationships could be found in the public domain.

Resource exploitation and circularity
While the company states it reports it input in its Annual Report, this document was not accessible. The company does not report quantitatively on its group-wide circularity performance. Severstal does not disclose activities to improve soil health nor does it disclose a target to improve soil health in its production or sourcing practices.

Water
No evidence that the company reduces water withdrawal across the company’s own operations was found. Severstal has a strong opportunity to disclose a time-bound target to reduce water withdrawal across its own operations. While the company reports how much water is withdrawn for its own operations in water-stressed areas, it does not engage with suppliers to reduce water withdrawal. While the company discloses water management guidance, this does not translate into disclosing its processes for managing and monitoring discharge water quality. Severstal does not regularly report on water pollution nor does it disclose a commitment to respect the right to water. The company does not disclose its processes for implementing preventive and corrective action plans for identified specific risks to the right to water and sanitation in its own operations.

Solid and air pollution
No evidence that the company is reducing the production of hazardous waste as well as plastic use and waste in its own operations was found.

GHG emissions
No evidence that Severstal reduces its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions was found. The company has a time-bound target to reduce its scope 1 and 2 emissions but does not report progress against its scope 1 and 2 emissions target. No evidence that the company’s scope 1 and 2 emissions target is aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory was found. The company has a time-bound target to reduce its scope 3 emissions but it does not report progress against its scope 3 emissions target. The company has a strong opportunity to set GHG target aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory.

Invasive species
No evidence was found that the company identifies the activities that could lead to the introduction of IAS in its own operations or its value chain.

Safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment
The company does not disclose a commitment to respecting local communities’ right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment or to zero tolerance for acts of violence, threats, intimidation or judicial harassment committed against land and environmental rights defenders.

Indigenous peoples’ and land rights
While Severstal mentions Indigenous Peoples’ rights, it reports no commitment to respect their rights which references the relevant part(s) of ILO Convention No. 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples or the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The company also does not disclose its processes for identifying and recognising the rights of Indigenous Peoples when activities in its own operations may impact their rights, nor does it describe how it obtains Indigenous Peoples’ free, prior and informed consent. The company also has an opportunity to disclose a commitment to respect ownership and use of land and natural resources and related legitimate tenure rights, as set out in the relevant part(s) of the VGGTs or the IFC Performance Standards. No evidence was found that the company requires its business relationships to have a process to identify legitimate tenure rightsholders, paying particular attention to vulnerable or marginalised tenure rightsholders, and to negotiate with them to provide adequate compensation.

While the company discloses that it conducts due diligence in general, it has an opportunity to specify that it conducts human rights due diligence that includes a process for identifying human rights risks and impacts through its business relationships. No evidence that the company describes its process for assessing its human rights risks and discloses what it considers to be its salient human rights issues was found. No evidence was found that the company has a global system to act on its salient human rights issues. The company discloses categories of stakeholders whose human rights have been or may be affected by its activities. No evidence that the company provides examples of its engagement with stakeholders whose human rights have been or may be affected by its activities was found.

The company has a publicly available policy statement which shows it is committed to respecting the health and safety of workers. The company has a publicly available policy statement which shows it expects its suppliers to commit to respecting the health and safety of their workers. No evidence that the company discloses a time-bound target for paying all workers a living wage or that it has achieved paying all workers a living wage was found. No evidence that the company describes how it determines a living wage for the regions where it operates was found. While the company states that it expects its suppliers to pay wages that are sufficient for workers and their families to fulfil their basic needs, it has an opportunity to disclose how it works to support the payment of a living wage by its suppliers. While the company discloses the proportion of its total direct operation’s workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements, it states that monitoring only covers a percentage of the group. While the company states that it encourages its suppliers to respect employees’ right to freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, it has an opportunity to describe how it works to support the practices of its suppliers in relation to those.

While the company has a publicly available tax strategy in its Sustainability Report 2021, there is no evidence this strategy is found in a formal document, approved by the highest governance body. No evidence that the company describes the process for identifying its bribery and corruption risks and impacts in specific locations or activities covering its own operations was found. The company includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with direct business relationships. No evidence that the company has a publicly available policy statement or policy setting out its lobbying and political engagement approach was found. No evidence that the company has a publicly available policy statement that specifies that it does not make political contributions was found.