SIBUR becomes sustainability partner of World Youth Festival 2024

1 March 2024. SIBUR acts a sustainability partner of the World Youth Festival (WYF) to be held in Sochi from 1 to 7 March. The partnership with SIBUR will make the WYF Russia’s largest carbon neutral youth event with confirmed international verification, as well as provide the participants with Saint Spring drinking water in recycled plastic packaging. During the Festival, SIBUR is rolling out an eco-education programme using engaging interactive formats such as business sessions, a digital quiz, presentation of an environmental art object, a variety of immersive experiences and more.

The transfer of SIBUR carbon units – certified emission reductions (CERs) from climate projects – to the World Youth Festival will help it fully offset its carbon footprint. Kept, an audit and advisory firm, will calculate the Festival's carbon footprint. The transfer of CERs from SIBUR's climate project will be registered on the Green Digital Platform based on blockchain technology. TÜV AUSTRIA Standards & Compliance, an audit firm, will certify the calculations and confirm offsetting the WYF's carbon footprint in line with ISO 14021:2016/Amd 1:2021. Furthermore, SIBUR will offer each participant an opportunity to calculate and offset theirpersonal carbon footprint accumulated this year to date.

The WYF will be the first international youth event of this scale in Russia with all drinking water supplied in packaging that contains recycled plastic. Festival attendees will enjoy the Saint Spring water in new packaging made from SIBUR's innovative Vivilen polymer granules with an up to 25% recycled plastic content. This solution boasts the minimal carbon footprint compared to alternatives and contributes to developing circular economy in Russia. Free drinking water stations, reverse vending machines, and containers for used bottles will be available at the Festival venues. Following the Festival, the plastic bottles will be recycled and reused, among other things, as secondary raw materials to manufacture new Vivilen polymer granules at SIBUR's facility in Bashkortostan. Anyone who returns used bottles to a reverse vending machine will have the opportunity to win a prize from Saint Spring.

SIBUR has prepared a large-scale eco-education programme. The Festival's hotspot will be SIBUR's futuristic art object symbolising the star of Sirius and a future that each of us can shape today. The eco-space will host immersive costumed performances on eco-friendly habits, featuring professional dancers. During the World Youth Festival, SIBUR will also hold Ecochella digital quiz where one can win valuable prizes such as sunglasses made from recycled plastic by Brevno, a Russian brand.

During the business programme, SIBUR will host its own session on the circular economy with popular performers and opinion leaders. Attendees will learn about the importance of chemistry in modern life, gain insights into effective negotiation practices and discover exciting career opportunities within the Company. At the Festival, SIBUR and the Student Basketball Association will organise a basketball tournament where participants will play with unique eco balls that contain recycled plastics.

Ksenia Razuvayeva, Head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs:

“Preserving the environment is among the fundamental conditions for the nation's prosperity. Our partnership with SIBUR as part of the International Youth Festival will help us strike a balance between offering a comfortable environment to participants and minimising the event’s impact on the nature and the health of our guests. We are grateful to our partners who are helping us to greenify this Russia’s largest youth event.”

Alexey Kozlov, member of the Management Board and Managing Director of SIBUR:

"Reducing climate impact along with fostering circular economy is one of the focuses of SIBUR's Sustainable Development Strategy. The WYF audience attracts young leaders from diverse sectors of public life and volunteers. As the sustainability partner, we are keen to share our expertise to ensure the environmental sustainability of this high-profile event. Alongside that, SIBUR sets stage for a fruitful discussion and, hence, for two-way exchange of ideas and meanings.”