Mining for the Green Economy Is Still Dirty Work

The world’s top producer of refined nickel and palladium is dealing with the aftermath of a devastating Arctic fuel leak that resulted in a record $2 billion levy. It’s among the biggest emitters of acid rain-causing sulfur dioxide. Yet Russian mining giant MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC spent much of its time with investors this week talking up its green efforts and climate goals. To attain them, it plans to spend $5.5 billion-plus, as part of a broader $27 billion, 10-year investment blueprint.

That’s a strikingly modest push for a company that throws up as much cash, and pollutes as badly, as Nornickel does. Still, it’s talk and organizational reshuffling that send an encouraging signal — providing upcoming discussions between the company’s largest owners also reconsider a generous dividend policy to free up more money for investment in cleaner operations. If that happens, it will augur well for progress even in what have long been the least environmentally friendly corners of corporate Russia, despite the government’s less-than-impressive track record.

Nornickel has a dismal ecological history. The polar city that carries its name has ranked among the country’s most polluted in large part thanks to its local industrial titan. In 2016, a spill turned a local river blood red. The miner has since been more active when it comes to environmental, social and governance issues, perhaps in part because many of the metals it produces — high-grade nickel, used in batteries; copper, essential for green energy systems; or palladium, for pollution-control devices for cars and trucks — have a starring role in a zero-carbon economy. But progress has been slow.