Stakeholder engagement GRI 2–29

Building mutually beneficial long-term relationships with stakeholders is at the core of our efforts to achieve the Company’s goals and maintain nimble and robust risk management.

Nornickel’s cooperation with government bodies, local authorities, non-profit organisations and local communities is guided by strict compliance with Russian laws and regional and municipal regulations, mutual respect of interests, and social responsibility.

The key principles, duties, initiatives and procedures related to stakeholder engagement are outlined in the Company’s by-lawsMMC Norilsk Nickel’s Stakeholder Engagement Policy, Kola MMC’s Stakeholder Engagement Procedure, MMC Norilsk Nickel’s Business Ethics Code and other by-laws are available on the Company’s official website.. We maintain dialogue with stakeholders in line with international standards and accountability principlesAA1000AP (AA1000 Accountability Principles), AA1000SES (AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard)..

In 2022, Nornickel reaffirmed its commitment to transparency by providing stakeholders with regular updates on the Company’s operational and financial performance, its financial position, social programmes for employees and local residents, and events and progress on the ESG agenda. The Company took steps to collect feedback on stakeholder satisfaction with the quality and flow of the Company’s information and the compliance with the principles set out in its Information Policy Regulations.

GRI 2–26 Dialogue with investors

Nornickel maintains active dialogue with a wide range of Russian and international investors and equity analysts via conference calls and meetings, investment conferences and site visits. In addition, we hold annual Investor Day attended by the Company’s senior management to discuss our strategic development.

In 2022, Nornickel continued to operate in conformity with the high international standards on disclosure. The Company uses different channels to reach out to stakeholders such as press releases, presentations, annual and sustainability reports, corporate action notices, as well as interactive tools. Nornickel publishes its reports in the Russian and English languages. Investor information is available in the Investors section on the Company’s website.

In 2022, the Company held over 100 meetings and calls with investors.

Dialogue with local communities

Nornickel contributes to better lives for the local communities affected by the Company’s operations across its footprint. Nornickel takes account of their interests, opinions and preferences, as well as their history, culture, traditions, way of life and historic heritage. To make this possible, the Company organises various activities, themed studies and surveys, focus group sessions and open dialogue events.

The Norilsk Development Agency, the Monchegorsk Development Agency and the Second School Centre for community initiatives of the Pechengsky District (territorial development institutions established with Nornickel’s support) contribute to creating conditions for improving quality of life, developing social environment and ensuring human capital growth in the regions where the Company operates.

Dialogue with employees

Continuous open communication with employees is the backbone of efficient governance. The Company has been developing a social partnership framework regulating labour relations and has in place offices for social and labour relations, a response centre and task forces at divisions.

To increase employee awareness, improve trust between workers and leadership and raise employee engagement, Nornickel carried out the following activities in 2022:

• the Company expanded and improved its communication channels (30,000 employees used the new corporate portal, over 60,000 people used NIKA chatbot);
• the Company’s Vice-Presidents held Norilsk Live, a Q&A session, which gained over 15,000 views;
• Nornickel carried out 50 corporate dialogue sessions, during which almost 5,000 questions were asked;
• the Company ran eight information campaigns, with a total audience of more than 250,000 people.

The efforts to improve employee communication have contributed to higher engagement — the engagement index increased by 7 p.p. from 56% to 63% from 2021.

The Company has the Corporate Trust Line in place enabling its employees to report any violations of law and standards of conduct and ethics.

Dialogue with business partners

Customers

In 2022, the Company supplied its products to 34 countries. Nornickel runs a global network of representative and sales offices in Russia, China, the USA, and Switzerland. The Company’s primary focus is on direct sales.

To build effective trust-based relationships with customers and raise customer satisfaction level, the Company carries out surveys and monitors compliance with contractual terms on an ongoing basis. In 2022, the customer satisfaction level stood at 2.9 points out of 3.

Suppliers

All suppliers are checked for compliance with certain requirements, including those related to the ESG-agenda. To control compliance and select the best suppliers, Nornickel has rolled out a special due diligence management system across all its divisions. To ensure efficiency and transparency of its procurement activities, Nornickel uses SAP SRM, an automated system for supplier relationship management.

Environmental protection dialogue

The Company is actively involved in key law-making initiatives related to environmental protection, natural resource use, including subsoil use, as well as economy of natural resource use.

In the reporting year, Nornickel held the 9th Ecological Forum themed “Ecology and Production. Challenges, Trends and Technologies”, participated in the Industrial Ecology conference and organised public dialogue meetings.

In 2022, Nornickel and Rosprirodnadzor signed two agreements to preserve the environment and ensure environmental safety. They establish a framework for the exchange of information, joint implementation of environmental activities, and the provision of advice by Rosprirodnadzor on Nornickel’s high-potential investment projects, a first-of-its-kind cooperation initiative in Russia to provide a business with export opinion and expert evaluation of environmental plans.

Environmental protection is also fostered through volunteering, which brings together the Company’s employees, local communities and government authorities. One of the Company’s major projects is the Let’s Do It annual environmental marathon encouraging people to clean up their local areas and plant trees.

Public and media relations

The key channels used to relay information to the stakeholders and the public are the Company’s official website www.nornickel.com, on which updates for stakeholders and general public are published, video and audio conferences, briefings, conference calls, and stakeholder meetings and dialogues. Nornickel regularly expresses its position – its senior management provides commentary to media outlets and it publishes press releases.

The Company has an efficient media communications system. In 2022, Nornickel was the top Russian metals and mining company in terms of mentioning in the media. The significant share of its publications covers social policy (14–15%). ESG matters have also gained greater focus over the last two years – the number of times they were mentioned increased from 2% in 2020 to 10% in 2022. Other most covered topics include environment, digitalisation, production development.

Dialogue with authorities and non-profit organisations

The Company takes part in parliamentary sessions and round table discussion organised by the Federation Council and State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, Government of the Russian Federation, Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation, Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, Association of Managers (an interregional public organisation), etc.

The Company’s experts engage in debates on draft regulations organised by community councils of the federal executive bodies, anti-corruption due diligence, and regulatory impact assessments. All of that helps maintain a constructive dialogue with the government, cut administrative red tape and improve business climate in our country. Our representatives are also part of various working groups created by federal executive authorities to help implement the regulatory guillotine mechanism.

Dialogue in public non-financial reporting

Each year, Nornickel engages in dialogues with stakeholders while drafting sustainability reports and conducts surveys to define the material topics. In 2022, surveys covered 192 people, up by 44.4% from 2021.