Impacts on Indigenous communities Suek is one of the largest coal producers in Kemerovo Oblast-Kuzbass (Southern Siberia), operating eight underground mines and two open pits. However, in this region, most of the mining activities are carried out on indigenous peoples’ lands (Anti-Discrimation Centre Memorial - ADC, 2020 Report, page 5 and 7). Coal mining activities in Southern Siberia are responsible for irreparable damages to Indigenous communities’ livelihoods, habitats and religious and cultural sites. 

Indigenous people inhabiting southern Kuzbass say that open-pit mining and coal operations emptied out their rivers and made harvesting berries and mushrooms impossible because of the coal dust covering them (EcoDefense, p. 46). As such, these communities face loss of their livelihoods and traditional lifestyle as well as water scarcity and forced displacement (ADC, from p.46).  

Health impacts In Southern Siberia most of the coal is extracted from open-pit mines, and several of SUEK’s mines in the region are open-pit mines (including two in Kemerovo and four in Khakasia). This type of mine has even worse effects on the environment and people’s health than underground mines. Open pits release a much higher amount of noxious dust into the air than underground mines, and the toxic dust produced has led to an increase of oncological and respiratory illnesses (ADC, p. 33). 

EcoDefense found that in the Kemerovo Oblast-Kuzbass region “respiratory diseases are the leading cause of morbidity, which is associated with a high concentration of coal and metallurgical enterprises” (EcoDefense, p.14). Furthermore, the Kemerovo Oblast-Kuzabass and Khakasia regions rank respectively second and third in cancer mortality rate in Russia (ADC, p.32 and 45). 

War in Ukraine Suek’s influential position within the Russian economy as the largest coal producer makes it one of the companies contributing to Russia’s economic capacity to wage war on Ukraine. In 2021 alone, Suek paid 835 million USD to the Russian state budget. As such, Suek is helping to finance the Russian state as it commits war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine.

Greenhouse gas emissions In 2019, SUEK’s methane emissions from its coal business amounted to 245.2 million tonnes (Sustainability Report, page 126). In 2020, the company’s CO2-equivalent emissions were estimated to amount to 223 million tonnes. 

SUEK, which already operates 26 coal power plants and one gas power plant with a combined installed energy production capacity of 17.6 GW and in 2021 alone produced 102.5 million tonnes of coal, intends to develop new coal mines and power plants. These developments would allow the company to produce further 1645 MW of coal power and 99.8 million metric tonnes of coal per year. Such expansion plans have been considered “reckless and irresponsible” in light of the current climate crisis.

SUEK’s coal mines have major adverse impacts on the environment, including through discharges of toxic waste into waters. As an example of the company’s harming activities, SUEK’s Vostochno-Beysky mine, which is one of the seven open-pit mines of the Beysky Coal deposit, contributes to the pollution of the Koybalskaya Steppe in the Khakasia region. In particular, mining waste from the operation of the Vostochno-Beysky, together with other mines in the region, has some of the worst effects on the Steppe’s ecosystem. 

The accumulation of waste piles from the mines has led to the shrinking of grazing, haymaking and crop areas in the Steppe (ADC p. 41). Coal mining is also responsible for water contamination as a consequence of untreated wastewater discharges in rivers and lakes and of the explosive work done at the pits (ADC p. 38-39). As waste waters contain petroleum products, heavy metals, explosive remnants and alkaline byproducts, water quality deteriorates and not only are lakes and rivers’ flora and fauna put in danger, but also wells with drinkable water start to vanish.

Mining activities in the Kemerovo Oblast-Kuzbass have led to irreversible damage and destruction of surface waters and groundwater bodies. As SUEK is the second-largest coal producer in the region (25.1 million tons of coal per year), it also figures among those companies that are the most responsible for the eco-disaster in the Kemerovo Oblast-Kuzbass.

The EcoDefense Report 2021 shows that this region is the most polluted one in Russia. According to the report, the rivers Tom and Inya are the ones most affected by coal industry discharges and the Inya has practically lost its properties as a water resource. As a consequence of toxic effluents and passthrough discharges, water is no longer suitable for drinking and food preparation (ADC, p. 51).