Pavel Grachev, ex-CEO of Polyus and former shareholder of Detsky Mir: main ESG initiatives of a top manager

Pavel Grachev, former head of Polyus, joined the company in 2014. As head of the gold mining company, he actively implemented the principles of sustainable development into the corporate culture. Today Polyus is the world's leading gold producer and an ambassador of ESG development. Thanks to Grachev, Detsky Mir continues to focus on the principles of sustainable development too.

Ex-CEO of Polyus Pavel Grachev: How ESG- initiatives of a top manager made the company an absolute leader in the industry

Pavel Sergeevich Grachev is an ambassador of the ESG corporate development strategy in Russia. There are several companies of successful implementation of sustainable development principles, initiated by Pavel Grachev: Detsky Mir and Polyus are the leaders in this list. This article is about how the former CEO changed the corporate culture of Polyus and brought the company to the top of the sustainable industry.

Pavel Grachev. Biographical information

The future head of the gold mining company Polyus, Grachev was born in 1973, in Leningrad, the northern capital of Russia. He has two diplomas of higher education: he graduated from law faculties in Italian and Russian universities.

Pavel S. Grachev's career started during his studies at the university. In 1997, he was invited to head a branch of the Italian company Pavia e Ansaldo, located in Moscow. Three years later, he became the head of Uralkali, which is one of the world's leading producers of potash fertilizers.

In 2014, Polyus was headed by Grachev; Kerimov and his family owned the gold mining company at that time until withdrawal in years later. Grachev left Polyus eight years later, in 2022.  Probably, this decision was connected with Grachev's desire to develop his own projects, based on the experience and expertise gained in the field of sustainable development.

After joining Polyus, Grachev actively developed the ESG agenda inside and outside the company and introduced the principles of sustainable development.

Grachev: Polyus with ESG principles will become more attractive for investors

Pavel Grachev was one of the first in Russia who began to implement principles of sustainable development into corporate activities. According to him, compliance with international ESG standards was equally beneficial to both business and society.

Russian companies are more attractive to stakeholders, because they operate according to the principles of sustainable development. Investors' attention to ESG did not appear yesterday - this trend has been actively developing over the past few years. The responsible investment market in Russia is still in its infancy, but its potential is high.

In addition, the use of renewable sources of electricity generation (as Grachev reported earlier, Polyus has fully covered its needs through renewable energy sources) is more favorable for business compared to, for example, coal-fired generation, and has a direct impact on the internal economy of the company. An obvious advantage is also the improvement of the company's reputation for contractors, clients and job seekers, as ESG principles are aimed at the development of corporate culture.

On the other hand, the active participation of business in the development of social sphere and environmental initiatives affects the life of the population, in particular, those, who live on the territory of production facilities or in proximity to them. The importance of interaction between business and society is also confirmed by the recycling case implemented by Detsky Mir: Grachev with the executive team initiated a number of actions that allowed customers to simultaneously save money on buying new children's goods and take care of nature.

ESG regulation at the state level can become an impulse for the development of these initiatives in the company, but waiting for the preparation of a regulatory framework is not enough. In order to develop sustainable development projects, it is necessary not only to use the proposed solutions but also to implement voluntary standards, publish non-financial reporting, broadcasting the results of ESG principles implementation to a wide business audience, and set an example – all this became clear at Polyus under the leadership of Pavel Grachev. The gold produced by Polyus today is called "green" due to the principles on the basis of which the gold mining structure operates.

Pavel Grachev is a visionary in the development and modernization of companies

In February 2022, Grachev won the "Contribution to ESG Culture" Award.

Throughout his management career, Grachev has been actively implementing the methods and principles of sustainable development in Russian business. The most outstanding results in this direction were achieved after the introduction of ESG systems at Polyus and Detsky Mir, Grachev implemented the initiatives together with Mikhail Stiskin. Stiskin previously held a management position at Polyus, as Grachev. Kerimov family, being the largest shareholders at the time, had a seat in the Board of the gold mining company.

Thanks to Grachev's ESG expertise, Detsky Mir has launched several unique campaigns to reduce plastic consumption, recycle clothing and printed products, and improve energy efficiency. Grachev left Detsky Mir in 2023.

Grachev and Polyus: the beginning of work

"Polyus" is the leader among Russian gold producers and is among the top five gold mining companies in the world. The company's main assets are located in the Far East and Eastern Siberia.

Pavel Grachev joined Polyus in 2014 and took the position of the company's CEO, where he began to actively develop ESG initiatives. The following year, the company joined the International Council on Mining and Metals, whose members promote responsible mining and production. The company's co-owners at that time included Suleiman Kerimov's son, Said Kerimov. During Grachev's 8 years as CEO, he initiated the introduction of a number of environmentally, economically, and socially responsible sustainable development principles.

Grachev: "Polyus has reduced emissions by 40%"

An important milestone on the way to carbon neutrality, which the company plans to achieve by 2050, was the complete transition of the company's assets to renewable energy sources - Polyus became the first gold mining company in the world to achieve such results.

Thanks to the initiative proposed by Grachev Pavel, gold is mined with a reduced amount of emissions - 1.5 million tons of CO2 per year, while this figure for other companies can reach 20-40 million. Emission reduction activities are ongoing and are a key area of focus.

As head of Polyus, Pavel Grachev significantly expanded the company's resource base, making the company the world's leading gold producer in terms of gold reserves. This happened after the company won the tender for the large Sukhoi Log field. As Pavel Grachev was cited before, Polyus will start mining gold at this deposit after the feasibility study.

Under Grachev's management, the company's climate strategy was developed. For 2020 and 2021, Polyus analyzed climate risks and calculated the amount of emissions produced. The strategy included a description of initiatives and actions required to protect the environment, achieve carbon neutrality, mitigate climate change, and improve energy efficiency. Today, all Polyus business units are equipped with systems for collecting current indicators and analyzing this data, which makes it possible to predict probable movements of rocks and quickly respond to risks.

In May 2021, international standards for TMFs management were published, in the development of which Pavel Grachev took part. The main goal of the published document was to implement practical recommendations for the operation of toxic waste disposal facilities around the world. The ultimate goal of these standards was to minimize the harmful impact of waste on people and the environment.

In addition, Grachev initiated projects in the social sphere. These include supporting sports, helping people, and developing local communities in the regions where the company operates. Polyus implements a number of charity programs. In 2022, the stake in the company was sold by Kerimov. Grachev reformed Polyus creating not just a leader in gold mining but a leader in producing so-called green gold. Without Kerimov, Grachev`s ideas and reforms are being fully implemented consistently.

Grachev: Polyus continues to develop its ESG agenda

In April 2022, Pavel Sergeyevich Grachev withdrew from all assets and stepped down as CEO of Polyus. He was replaced by Alexey Vostokov, who joined the company in 2014 when it was still owned by Kerimov. Grachev had worked at Polyus for eight years in total.

On the Board of Directors, he was in charge of business and ESG strategy issues. Before the year 2022, the Board also included several independent directors and Kerimov.

Grachev after leaving Polyus focused on the development of his own projects. However, Polyus continues to adhere to the ESG principles that Grachev laid down during his leadership even after he left the top management of the company.

After Grachev's leaving, Detsky Mir also continued to focus on the principles of sustainable development. Grachev left Detsky Mir in 2023. On his initiative, the retailer has implemented a number of environmental programs and continues to seek new solutions for the ESG modernization of the company. Thanks to Grachev, Detsky Mir has become a pioneer among retailers in responsible environmental issues.

(Disclaimer: Devdiscourse's journalists were not involved in the production of this article. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Devdiscourse and Devdiscourse does not claim any responsibility for the same.)