Community relations
Approach
EVRAZ aims to continuously contribute to the prosperity of its local communities. We stimulate economic growth in our regions of operation by employing people responsibly, contributing significant tax revenue and investing in social projects. The Group maintains numerous productive and stable relationships, both with local and federal authorities and with other stakeholders, including non-governmental organisations, the media, and business and cultural communities. We believe that the success of our local communities has an enormous impact on our business sustainability prospects. To this end, we make every effort to contribute to the growth and wellbeing of the cities and towns where we operate, guided by the fundamental principles of corporate social responsibility. In 2021, EVRAZ earmarked US$35 million for social and social infrastructure maintenance expenses.
The Group has several major programmes that invest in local communities, including EVRAZ for Kids, EVRAZ for Cities and EVRAZ for Sports. In addition, we promote various other initiatives, such as the EVRAZ “City of Friends — City of Ideas” grant contest, as well as regular volunteer activities within the EVRAZ volunteers project.
In addition, during the project selection process, the Group’s charity funds in the Urals and Siberia take into account the EVRAZ Social Investments Guidelines. Our major priorities include supporting families in need, orphanages and veterans; financing educational, sport and cultural projects; and subsidising healthcare activities and environmental protection programmes.
Key Projects of 2021
Charity and sponsorship projects
The Group has several major programmes that invest in local communities, including EVRAZ for Kids, EVRAZ for Cities and EVRAZ for Sports. In addition, we promote various other initiatives, such as the EVRAZ “City of Friends — City of Ideas” grant contest, as well as regular volunteer activities within the EVRAZ volunteers project.
In addition, EVRAZ supports various federal youth programmes by collaborating with academic institutions, purchasing essential school supplies and sports equipment, awarding scholarships, providing vocational guidance for students, offering training under the WorldSkills methodology, and organising study sessions for students and internships for graduates. Current projects include providing support to children with special needs and those in orphanages to improve their lives: for example, through rehabilitation programmes for children with cerebral palsy.
In 2021, key activities supported by the EVRAZ for Kids programme included:
- supporting the Live baby outreach rehabilitation project in the Sverdlovsk region, which organises rehabilitation classes at home;
- buying modern equipment for adaptive physical education, including the Stabilomer complex for children with disabilities in Nizhny Tagil;
- sponsoring the
18th All-Russian Open Field Olympiad for Young Geologists, which was held online for teams from Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus.
The Group’s investments have significantly improved urban infrastructure in the cities and towns where it operates. We have supported the development of medical, educational and cultural infrastructures in our local communities, leading to a noticeable improvement in the quality of life there.
In 2021 activities as part of the EVRAZ for Cities programme included:
- Planting 300 trees in Novokuznetsk's Zavodskoi and Central districts as part of the region’s 300th-anniversary celebrations.
- Allocating US$3.1 million for the construction of the Bessonenko City Infectious Diseases Clinic No. 8 in Novokuznetsk.
- providing medical equipment (five ventilators, 20 patient monitors, 19 functional beds, 160 thousand units of PPE) and
X-ray diagnostic and portable complexes for hospitals in Nizhny Tagil.
EVRAZ encourages employees, their families and individuals of nearby communities to engage in sport as part of a healthy lifestyle. We invest in improvements to sport infrastructure, support amateur and professional teams and sponsor federal and regional sport activities.
In 2021, activities under the EVRAZ for Sports programme included:
- supporting the seventh
High-Five! corporate race across the Urals and Siberia, which attracted around 2,000 adults and 700 children.
One major element of the Group’s contribution to local communities is the annual “EVRAZ: City of Friends — City of Ideas” grant contest. It aims to provide activists with the resources and skills to implement various meaningful social and environmental projects, such as:
- the “Health at Home” programme, under which elderly and disabled residents of Novokuznetsk’s Central district receive physiotherapy and rehabilitation at their homes.
- the “Ecology of Industrial Heritage With Good Hands and Modern Technology” grant project, which volunteers will implement at the Old Demidov Plant eco-industrial techno-park at Gornozavodskoy Ural in Nizhny Tagil.
The contest has been running since 2017 and takes place in Novokuznetsk, Mezhdurechensk, Nizhny Tagil and Kachkanar, as well as Tashtagol. In 2021, 197 applications were submitted in Siberia and 165 in the Urals. A total of 56 projects were chosen, and EVRAZ awarded certificates to the winners amounting to US$217 thousand. Notably, 104,000 people voted for the projects and 140,000 people visited the “City of Friends — City of Ideas” website.
Community engagement
The Group regularly engages in regional and federal conferences and initiatives, as well as partners with and organises numerous cultural and social activities, including environmental protection and sport projects.
In 2021, EVRAZ took part in various regional events. These included the sixth cross-divisional risk management symposium for risk managers from the Urals, Siberia and Coal divisions; the Minute of Techno Flame contest of innovative ideas for students and undergraduates from top universities in the Urals; and the 59th EVRAZ “Your Challenge” Scientific and Technical Conference, to name but a few.
We also participated in the following events at the federal level:
- The Innoprom 2021 international expo, which took place in Yekaterinburg in July 2021.
- The WorldSkills Hi-Tech Championship 2021.
- The RAISE RANEPA All-Russian accelerator for social initiatives.
- The CompTech 2021 winter school.
- The St Petersburg International Economic Forum.
- The Community Forum organised by the Russian Civic Chamber.
Volunteering
The EVRAZ volunteers project has established a positive tradition of assisting vulnerable individuals and social entities, as well as organising sport and cultural activities in local communities. It operates and develops without any special policies and on an entirely voluntary basis.
For almost 70 years, the Group’s employees have supported two orphanages: No. 95 and Island of Hope. In 2021, they continued to help orphans and taught them crucial skills such as how to run a household, cook and sew.
Other new projects
Focusing on environment in communications
In 2021, EVRAZ together with Forbes, launched the “Industry of the Future” initiative, showcasing our cutting-edge technologies and commitment to protecting the ecosystems in Siberia and the Urals.
Becoming a more valued employer
EVRAZ has risen in the rankings of top employers. In 2021, in a rating by HeadHunter, we were among Russia's top 50 employers, while in an evaluation of Russia's best employers by Forbes and KPMG, we placed in the Gold category. Notably, that rating took into account our ESG policies.
Creating a single corporate media ecosystem
The Group’s unified online and offline media platform continued to grow in 2021. The main events included:
- Publishing “EVRAZ News” electronically, which allows employees to personalise their information stream.
- Updating the EVRAZ corporate app for employees by creating a new platform and adding functionality.
- Launching a Group Telegram channel, which helped to promote 2,000 official publications, increasing coverage to around 28 million subscribers, up four-fold from 2020.