First international transaction in Russian carbon unit registry held with RUSAL's carbon units

RUSAL, one of the world's largest aluminium producers, took part in an international deal with its carbon units. The units were issued in the Russian carbon unit registry as a result of a climate project aimed at protecting forests from fires.

The Arab investment fund Equity International acquired RUSAL's carbon units, issued in the Russian carbon unit registry. Gazprombank organised the transaction, which marks the first carbon unit deal within the BRICS framework. It was announced during the BRICS Business Forum, held on October 17-18 in Moscow and focused on strengthening international cooperation for sustainable economic development and global trade.

The deal was conducted to offset the carbon footprint of one of Equity International's assets. The Fund specialises in supporting research institutions and medical, cultural, and art projects and advises companies in the Middle East and the Gulf on strategic climate and sustainability issues.

"Commitment to carbon neutrality is a global economic trend. Within BRICS, countries can combine their efforts towards building a low-carbon economy. We are pleased that our forest climate project, implemented in full compliance with the current quality criteria, became the source of the first international transaction with Russian carbon units at the international level," noted Elena Myakotnikova, Director of Sustainable Development at RUSAL.

"The successful transaction of Russian units to a foreign buyer demonstrates the readiness of the Russian registry infrastructure for international trade. Gazprombank is systematically working to create a high-quality carbon unit market in Russia, consistently paying special attention to the methodological base, increasing trust in Russian projects, and building long-term partnerships with foreign firms. This allows us to organise international market transactions and assist our clients," commented Ekaterina Salugina-Sorokovaya, First Vice President at Gazprombank.

"We see a good perspective for a united BRICS Carbon Market and for BRICS Sustainable Technology Platform that could reflect the priorities of the BRICS countries in the Climate Agenda and work for the benefit of environmentally friendly technologies in the Group. We are willing and able to facilitate this process and hope our colleagues in the BRICS countries could work together to develop a common vision on the architecture of the BRICS Carbon Market," said Salem Humaid Almazaini, Chairman of the Board of Equity International.

In May 2024, RUSAL verified the results of the first reporting period of its climate project to protect forests in the Krasnoyarsk region from fires. In June 2024, the Russian carbon unit registry operator issued 1,351,054 carbon units to the company's account. The Russian carbon unit registry, operated by JSC "Kontur," manages the registration and accounting of climate projects and carbon units issued by project implementers. Since 1 June 2024, disclosure requirements have been expanded – project implementers are required to publish project documentation on the registry's website, including the project implementation report, validator's report, and verifier's report. RUSAL's forest climate project became the first in the registry to have its documentation published in both Russian and English.