OREANDA-NEWS. March 18, 2011. Fourteen enterprises of DTEK* have their environmental management systems (EMS) certified for their conformity with ISO 14001:2004. The Company’s enterprises are the first in the Ukrainian power industry to have brought their EMS in compliance with the best international practices. DTEK’s investment in the project amounted to UAH 4.6m in 2010. The audit was conducted by Moody International.
 
DTEK has been introducing environmental standard ISO 14001:2004 during 2008-2010. As a result, the Company designed uniform corporate environmental protection standards, identified environmental aspects and risks, and created an efficient system to manage them.  This laid a solid foundation for further systematic environmental activities of the Company, with application of innovative environmental management methods and continuous improvement of environmental performance of the DTEK’s enterprises. The modern EMS in place also encourages responsible attitude of the managers and personnel to environmental protection and compliance with the established environmental requirements.
 
The environmental management system is an integral part of the corporate governance system and an essential component of the non-financial risk management system. Thus, the introduction of ISO 14001:2004 has a positive impact on the Company’s competitiveness and investment attractiveness.
 
Integration of the ISO 14001:2004 requirements at DTEK’s enterprises started in 2008 with assessment of the environmental management system in place and preparation of an action plan to introduce new requirements and train personnel engaged in the project implementation. During the next phase, procedures in accordance with the requirements of the standard were developed and further introduced. In 2010, DTEK’s coal mining, coal processing, energy generating, energy supplying and service enterprises successfully passed pre-certification and then certification audits for the conformity of their environmental management systems with the requirements of ISO 14001:2004 standard.
 
Dniproenergo will undergo the respective certification in 2011, and Kyivenergo company will do so in 2012.
 
DTEK’s Chief Operating Officer, Yuriy Ryzhenkov, comments:
 
“Having joined the Energy Community this year, Ukraine has committed to improve its environmental situation dramatically not later than by 2018. Replacement of obsolete equipment with advanced and environmentally friendly installations naturally requires significant financial investment. Yet, the most essential thing is not only to allocate funds, but to change the approach of the Ukrainian society to environmental issues, and, to do it, first of all, among companies’ managers and employees. The implementation of ISO 14001:2004 is an important step, which enables us to come closer to the standards followed by the European industry. “