Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Mining · Russia · 2015–2026

Nornickel Sulphur Programme: SO2 targets, spending and measured emissions at Norilsk and Kola

Nature's voice · report
My air over Norilsk received 1,854 kt of SO2 in 2015 and 1,146 kt in 2025 from the Norilsk site, according to Nornickel's Annual Report 2025.
Did nature suffer? Yes. Harm is on record. Disputed
Recorded
  • NASA's satellite catalogue lists the Norilsk smelters at 1,934.1 kt in 2015 and 1,527.8 kt in 2025, with an overall uncertainty of about 50%. NASA Goddard
  • At Nikel, near the Norwegian border, NASA's catalogue lists SO2 of 69.9 kt in 2015 and 5.4 kt in 2025; the smelter was shut down on 23 December 2020. NASA Goddard
  • NILU's Svanvik station states that emissions from the Zapolyarny briquetting plant and the Nikel smelter have been significantly reduced, and continues to measure heavy metals in my air and precipitation. NILU
What the record lacks: 2 none on record · 3 not disclosed · 4 disputed See the gaps
Accounts of the harm differ
How much SO2 did the Norilsk smelters emit, and in which direction did emissions move in 2025?
  • Company or project Nornickel (Annual Report 2025): Norilsk-site SO2 of 1,854 kt in 2015, 1,837 kt in 2020, 1,256 kt in 2024 and 1,146 kt in 2025; 2025 labelled −9% against 2024 and −38% against 2015. Nornickel
  • Researchers NASA Goddard catalogue V2 (Norilsk smelters): 1,934.1 kt in 2015, 1,660.5 kt in 2020, 1,104.0 kt in 2024 and 1,527.8 kt in 2025; the authors state an overall uncertainty of about 50%. NASA Goddard
How far did SO2 fall in the Kola Division and the Russia–Norway border area?
  • Company or project Nornickel (Annual Report 2020): In 2020 SO2 fell 71% at Nikel and Zapolyarny and 58% in the Russia–Norway border area. Nornickel
  • Company or project Nornickel (Annual Report 2022): In 2020 SO2 fell 71% in the border area and 50% at Nikel and Zapolyarny; the Kola Division fell 85% in 2021 against 2015 and Kola MMC 90%. Nornickel
  • Company or project Nornickel (Annual Report 2021): A 90% reduction from Kola MMC in 2021 against 2015. Nornickel

Nornickel has published successive SO2 reduction targets and investment totals for its Norilsk and Kola smelters since 2015. Company-reported Norilsk emissions were 1,146 kt in 2025 against 1,854 kt in 2015; NASA's satellite catalogue lists different values for the same years.

−38%Company-reported Norilsk SO2 emissions, 2025 against 2015
1,146 kt in 2025 against 1,854 kt in 2015, as labelled in Nornickel's Annual Report 2025. Published targets: a 75% reduction by 2023 (Annual Report 2017); 45% in 2023 and 90% in 2025 (Annual Report 2020).

Status As of October 2026: Nadezhda lines are in operation with a third sulphuric-acid line under construction in 2025; the Copper Plant is due to run until the end of 2028 before smelting is relocated; Nornickel remains on the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global's exclusion list.

What?
Nornickel has published successive SO2 reduction targets and investment totals for its Norilsk and Kola smelters since 2015; company-reported Norilsk emissions were 1,146 kt in 2025 against 1,854 kt in 2015, and the Nikel smelter was shut down in December 2020. Nornickel
Where?
Norilsk smelters (Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant and Copper Plant), Krasnoyarsk Krai; Nikel smelter (Pechenga district, Murmansk Oblast, a few kilometres from the Norwegian border) and Severonikel/Monchegorsk in the Kola Division. NASA Goddard
When?
Targets published from 2015 and revised in the 2017, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 annual reports; Nikel smelter shut down on 23 December 2020; first Nadezhda line commissioned on 25 October 2023; Copper Plant to operate until the end of 2028 (statement of 17 April 2026). InvestFuture
Who?
Gained
  • Companies in the 12 cities of the emissions-quota experiment, including Norilsk — End of the experiment moved from 31 December 2024 to 31 December 2026 (bill passed in first reading on 11 March 2022) Interfax
Lost
  • 660 Nikel smelting-shop staff — Smelting shop shut down; outplacement of RUB 912 million for 2020–2022, with 72% staying with the company Nornickel
  • Nornickel — Excluded by the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global on 19 November 2009 under the criterion "Severe environmental damage"; still listed on 11 August 2026 Norges Bank Investment Management
Harmed
  • Air of the Norilsk Industrial District — Company-reported SO2 of 1,146 kt in 2025 (1,854 kt in 2015) Nornickel
  • Air of the Kola Division and the Russia–Norway border area — Company-reported Kola-site SO2 of 13.7 kt in 2025 (155.1 kt in 2015) Nornickel
Why?
Nornickel's stated aim is to cut SO2 emissions at Norilsk and Kola; the Annual Report 2022 ties the Copper Plant timeline to Government Resolution No. 353 of 12 March 2022 and gives no reason for the 2023 redesign. Nornickel
How?
At Nadezhda, SO2 from the main smelting units is converted to sulphuric acid and neutralised with limestone, with the gypsum slurry going to a repository; at Kola the Nikel smelting shop and the Monchegorsk metallurgical shop were shut down. Interfax
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

In 2015 Nornickel reported emitting up to 2 million tonnes of SO2 a year and planned SO2 capture of 95% or more from 2016, with completion in the first quarter of 2019, according to First Vice President Sergei Dyachenko; the 2012 programme, with a budget of up to US$2bn under Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, was described by the company as no longer current. The Annual Report 2017 set a target of a 75% reduction of SO2 emissions in the Norilsk Industrial District by 2023 against 2015 and 50% in Nikel by 2019, with about US$2.5bn of investment by 2023, and recorded that stage 1, including the closure of the Nickel Plant in Norilsk, was completed in 2016. The Annual Report 2020 restated the target as a reduction of 45% in 2023 and 90% in 2025 (2015 baseline).

The schedule then changed. The Annual Report 2021 gave a Nadezhda launch in 2023 and, for the Copper Plant, a final investment decision in June 2021, construction from 2022, launch in 2025 and recovery of 99%–99.5% of SO2, within an investment of US$4.1–4.3bn. The Annual Report 2022 gave a Nadezhda target of a 45% SO2 reduction by 2024 and marked the Copper Plant as "Redesign in 2023", with its timeline referenced to Clause 6 of Government Resolution No. 353 of 12 March 2022. The Annual Report 2023 gave Nadezhda a ramp-up to design capacity by the end of 2024 and the Copper Plant as "Redesign, refinement of design solutions", with no launch year. On 17 April 2026 Evgeny Fedorov, First Vice President and head of the Polar Division, said the Copper Plant would operate until the end of 2028, after which its smelting stage would be shut down and moved closer to consumers, and that he expected a 90% cut in absolute SO2 in the Norilsk Industrial District, more than 700 thousand tonnes a year (TASS, citing Taimyr Telegraph).

The first line at the Nadezhda plant was commissioned on 25 October 2023. SO2 from the main smelting units is converted to sulphuric acid and neutralised with limestone; the gypsum slurry goes to a repository designed for 90 million cubic metres and 15 years of operation, with capacity of about 2.4 million tonnes a year of sulphuric acid and about 5 million tonnes a year of gypsum, and Interfax reported no current plans to use the gypsum. Plant director Vitaly Muravyov said that once all lines reached design capacity the plant's SO2 should fall from the current 1.1 million tonnes to 197,000 tonnes. Nornickel reported SO2 recovered of 7.5 thousand tonnes in 2023, about 390 thousand tonnes in 2024 and 489 thousand tonnes in 2025, and said construction of a third sulphuric-acid line continued in 2025.

Nornickel's emissions series and NASA Goddard's satellite catalogue give different values for the Norilsk smelters. The company reported Norilsk-site SO2 of 1,854 kt in 2015, 1,837 kt in 2020, 1,256 kt in 2024 and 1,146 kt in 2025, and Kola-site SO2 of 155.1 kt in 2015, 73.2 kt in 2020, 12.8 kt in 2024 and 13.7 kt in 2025. The NASA catalogue lists 1,934.1 kt in 2015, 1,660.5 kt in 2020, 1,104.0 kt in 2024 and 1,527.8 kt in 2025 for the Norilsk smelters; its authors state an overall uncertainty of about 50%. In August 2019 Greenpeace, using NASA data, ranked the Norilsk smelter complex as the world's largest SO2 emission hotspot.

At Kola, the Nikel smelting shop (900 kt a year of charge) was shut down on 23 December 2020 and the Monchegorsk metallurgical shop on 20 March 2021. NILU's Svanvik station page states that emissions from the Zapolyarny briquetting plant and the Nikel smelter have been significantly reduced. The Barents Observer reported that Norway had granted NOK 300 million in the early 1990s to reduce Nikel emissions and that the money was never spent and was returned. The Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global lists GMK Norilskiy Nickel PAO as excluded under the criterion "Severe environmental damage", decided on 19 November 2009 and still listed in the 11 August 2026 update.

On 11 March 2022 the State Duma passed in first reading bill No. 84931-8, which moved the end of the emissions-quota experiment covering 12 cities including Norilsk from 31 December 2024 to 31 December 2026. Deputy Economy Minister Alexei Khersontsev said the delay gave companies time to find new equipment suppliers and adjust timelines. Interfax quoted the Clean Air target for these cities as a 20% fall in emissions by 2024.

  1. 2009Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global excludes the company under the criterion "Severe environmental damage" (19 Nov)
  2. 2015Nornickel reports up to 2 million tonnes of SO2 a year; plans 95% capture from 2016 with completion in Q1 2019
  3. 2016Stage 1 of the environmental programme, including closure of the Nickel Plant in Norilsk, completed
  4. 2017Annual Report 2017 targets: −75% SO2 in the Norilsk Industrial District by 2023, −50% in Nikel by 2019
  5. 2019Greenpeace ranks the Norilsk smelter complex as the world's largest SO2 emission hotspot, using NASA data (August)
  6. 2020Annual Report 2020 targets: −45% in 2023 and −90% in 2025; Nikel smelter shut down (23 Dec)
  7. 2021Monchegorsk metallurgical shop shut down (20 Mar); Copper Plant final investment decision (June)
  8. 2022Duma passes bill postponing the emissions-quota experiment to 31 Dec 2026 (11 Mar); Copper Plant marked "Redesign in 2023"
  9. 2023First line at Nadezhda commissioned (25 Oct)
  10. 2025Company reports 489 thousand tonnes of SO2 recovered and Norilsk-site SO2 of 1,146 kt
  11. 2026Fedorov: Copper Plant to operate until the end of 2028, then smelting relocated (17 Apr)

What was said

Claims, in the words of those who made them.

“This is a historic event”

Potanin, Nornickel, on the Nikel smelter shutdown (as quoted by The Barents Observer) · 2020-12-23 · The Barents Observer

“which also produces goods for the green economy”

Potanin, Nornickel, describing the company (as quoted by The Barents Observer) · 2020-12-23 · The Barents Observer

“from the current 1.1 million tonnes to 197,000 tonnes”

Vitaly Muravyov, director of the Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant, on SO2 once all lines reach design capacity · 2023-10-25 · translated from Russian · Interfax

“A more than 99% recovery rate was achieved, a figure confirmed by government agencies during control and oversight inspections”

Nornickel Sustainability Report 2024 · 2025 · Nornickel

“unparalleled in scale”

Nornickel Annual Report 2025, on the Nadezhda project · 2026 · translated from Russian · Nornickel

“For those who decided to try their hand at entrepreneurship, good starting conditions were created”

Andrey Chibis, governor of Murmansk Oblast (as quoted by The Barents Observer) · 2020-12-23 · The Barents Observer

“have now been significantly reduced”

NILU, Svanvik monitoring station page, on emissions from the Zapolyarny briquetting plant and the Nikel smelter · 2024-11-29 · NILU

Where accounts differ

Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.

How much SO2 did the Norilsk smelters emit, and in which direction did emissions move in 2025?
Company or project
Nornickel (Annual Report 2025)

Norilsk-site SO2 of 1,854 kt in 2015, 1,837 kt in 2020, 1,256 kt in 2024 and 1,146 kt in 2025; 2025 labelled −9% against 2024 and −38% against 2015.

Nornickel
Researchers
NASA Goddard catalogue V2 (Norilsk smelters)

1,934.1 kt in 2015, 1,660.5 kt in 2020, 1,104.0 kt in 2024 and 1,527.8 kt in 2025; the authors state an overall uncertainty of about 50%.

NASA Goddard
How far did SO2 fall in the Kola Division and the Russia–Norway border area?
Company or project
Nornickel (Annual Report 2020)

In 2020 SO2 fell 71% at Nikel and Zapolyarny and 58% in the Russia–Norway border area.

Nornickel
Company or project
Nornickel (Annual Report 2022)

In 2020 SO2 fell 71% in the border area and 50% at Nikel and Zapolyarny; the Kola Division fell 85% in 2021 against 2015 and Kola MMC 90%.

Nornickel
Company or project
Nornickel (Annual Report 2021)

A 90% reduction from Kola MMC in 2021 against 2015.

Nornickel

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

  • The Norilsk smelter complex described as the largest SO2 emission hotspot in the world, followed by Kriel (South Africa) and Zagroz (Iran), using NASA data
    Greenpeace (August 2019) · Greenpeace International
  • Norilsk described as having the largest individual SO2 emissions
    Reuters, via The Moscow Times (20 August 2019) · The Moscow Times
  • The Norilsk smelters described as one of the largest anthropogenic SO2 sources visible from satellites
    Nickolay Krotkov, NASA (September 2016) · NASA Earth Observatory
  • The Nadezhda project described as unparalleled in scale; a recovery rate of more than 99% confirmed by government agencies during inspections
    Nornickel (Annual Report 2025; Sustainability Report 2024) · Nornickel

Recorded

  • Company-reported Norilsk-site SO2: 1,854 kt (2015), 1,837 kt (2020), 1,256 kt (2024), 1,146 kt (2025); the company labels 2025 −9% against 2024 and −38% against 2015
  • Company-reported Kola-site SO2: 155.1 kt (2015), 73.2 kt (2020), 12.8 kt (2024), 13.7 kt (2025); the company labels 2025 −91% against 2015 and attributes the small 2025 rise to increased processing of raw materials
  • NASA Goddard catalogue, Norilsk smelters: 2,022.6 kt (2005), 2,397.4 kt (2013), 1,934.1 kt (2015), 1,660.5 kt (2020), 1,098.4 kt (2023), 1,104.0 kt (2024), 1,527.8 kt (2025); overall uncertainty about 50%
  • The Earth System Science Data paper behind the catalogue names Norilsk among the largest sources whose emissions "demonstrated little changes" over the period it covers
  • Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global: GMK Norilskiy Nickel PAO excluded under the criterion "Severe environmental damage", decision date 19.11.2009, still listed at the 11 August 2026 update
  • Expert RA's 30 September 2026 ESG release notes exceedances of pollutant limits in Norilsk during the rating period

Who gained

Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

Reached nature or the ground

Not published
Sulphur Programme 2.0 investment, 202011.3bn
Window: 2020
Company figure: RUB 11.3 bn (US$154 million).
Kola comprehensive environmental project, 20201.2bn
Window: 2020
Company figure: RUB 1.2 bn (US$16 million).
Kola comprehensive environmental project, 2021–20253.5bn
Window: 2021–2025
Company figure: RUB 3.5 bn (US$49 million).
Sulphur Programme total including Mokulaevsky limestone infrastructure> 180bn
Interfax, October 2023.
Sulphur Programme invested by October 2023≈ 120bn
Window: to Oct 2023
Interfax, October 2023.
Nadezhda complex projected at full completion250bn
Sustainability Report 2024.
Environmental costs and expenditures (company-reported), 202035bn
Window: 2020
Environmental costs and expenditures (company-reported), 2021199bn
Window: 2021
Environmental costs and expenditures (company-reported), 202284bn
Window: 2022
Environmental costs and expenditures (company-reported), 2023101bn
Window: 2023
Environmental costs and expenditures (company-reported), 202497bn
Window: 2024

Gained elsewhere

Not totalled
Outplacement of 660 Nikel smelting-shop staff912m
Window: 2020–2022
Company figure: RUB 912 million (US$12.8 million); 72% stayed with the company.
Currency: RUB · Window: Mixed — see each line. Figures cover different periods and are not compared as a ratio. * Estimate built from cited figures.

Responses on record

  • nornickel (2020-12-23): Potanin called the Nikel smelter shutdown a historic event and described the company as one that also produces goods for the green economy. · The Barents Observer
  • nornickel (2025): Reported a recovery rate of more than 99%, a figure it said was confirmed by government agencies during control and oversight inspections. · Nornickel
  • nornickel (2026): Described the Nadezhda project as unparalleled in scale and reported 489 thousand tonnes of SO2 recovered in 2025. · Nornickel

In court and with insurers

Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

Lawsuits and rulings

No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

Insurers

No insurer decision on record.

What nature saw

Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

Company-reported Norilsk SO2, 2025 against 2015
1,146 kt vs 1,854 kt
Annual Report 2025; labelled −38%
Published target for 2025
−90%
Annual Report 2020, 2015 baseline
NASA catalogue, Norilsk smelters, 2025
1,527.8 kt
Overall uncertainty about 50%; 2015 value 1,934.1 kt
Nikel smelter, NASA catalogue
69.9 kt to 5.4 kt
2015 to 2025; shut down 23 December 2020

What we don't know

Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.

Nature

  • Disputed How much SO2 did the Norilsk smelters emit, and in which direction did emissions move in 2025?
  • Disputed How far did SO2 fall in the Kola Division and the Russia–Norway border area?

Court

Record

  • Disputed Disputed: the direction of change in Norilsk SO2 for 2025. Nornickel reports 1,146 kt (−9% against 2024); the NASA catalogue lists 1,527.8 kt against 1,104.0 kt in 2024, with an overall uncertainty of about 50%.
  • Disputed Disputed: Nornickel's own Kola percentages differ between reports. The Annual Report 2020 gives −71% at Nikel and Zapolyarny and −58% in the Russia–Norway border area for 2020; the Annual Report 2022 gives −71% in the border area and −50% at Nikel and Zapolyarny.
  • Not disclosed Not disclosed: year-by-year Sulphur Programme spending after 2020; the company's annual report pages give only totals and the 2020 figure.
  • Not disclosed Not disclosed: a launch year for the Copper Plant in the Annual Report 2023, and a reason for the 2023 redesign in the Annual Report 2022.
  • Not disclosed Not disclosed: an investment amount for the 2026 relocation of Copper Plant smelting.
  • None on record None on record: a court case over SO2 air emissions.

Did the harm stop?

The Nikel smelter was shut down on 23 December 2020 and the Monchegorsk metallurgical shop on 20 March 2021. At Norilsk, emissions continued in 2025 at 1,146 kt according to the company.

Who paid?

The programme's investment totals are company figures; company-reported environmental capital investments were RUB 10.4 bn in 2020 and RUB 42.1 bn in 2024. The Norwegian NOK 300 million grant of the early 1990s was reported as never spent and returned.

Sources

Voices on record: ✓ Company or project✓ Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations✓ Communities and civil society✓ Researchers

Government and regulators

  1. Exclusion of companies
    Norges Bank Investment Management · 2026-08
  2. Siberian River Has Turned Red Before, Satellites Show
    NASA Earth Observatory · 2016-09-15

Communities and civil society

Connected cases

Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.

Carbon and conservation finance

Baseline
The projected scenario of what would have happened without a project, such as an expected rate of deforestation. Credits are issued for the difference between the baseline and what actually happened, so an inflated baseline produces more credits.
ESG
Environmental, social and governance criteria that investors and insurers use to screen companies and projects.

Science and environment

Biomass, root-to-shoot ratio, carbon fraction
Biomass is the dry weight of living plants per hectare. The root-to-shoot ratio adds the weight of roots. The carbon fraction is the share of that weight that is carbon, about 47% in tropical forests.
Groundwater
Water held underground in soil and rock, drawn through wells.
Hectare (ha)
A unit of area equal to 10,000 square metres, about 2.5 acres. 100 hectares make one square kilometre.