Biodiversity
At the Grupa Azoty Group, we demonstrate that it is possible to carry out large-scale industrial activities in a responsible and environmentally sound manner.
At the Grupa Azoty Group, we demonstrate that it is possible to carry out large-scale industrial activities in a responsible and environmentally sound manner. We have been taking preventive measures to offset our adverse environmental impacts for years. Some of the Group companies are located in the vicinity of or manage protected areas. In 2021, we did not identify any significant adverse impacts of the companies’ operations on biodiversity in protected areas or in high biodiversity areas outside of protected areas.
Grupa Azoty S.A.
Grupa Azoty S.A.’s premises are located in Mościce, a district of Tarnów located in the western part of the city. In 2021, Grupa Azoty did not identify any adverse effects of its products and services on biodiversity. In the Company’s risk management system, the risk related to the impact on biodiversity is a newly identified risk, which in 2021 was under appraisal.
See our approach to TCFD recommendations
The Group has registered its products in accordance with the REACH Regulation and chemical safety reports have been prepared. Appropriate instruction manuals and data sheets describing their possible effects on living organisms have been prepared for each product. Periodic inspections by administrative authorities revealed no irregularities.
Grupa Azoty Puławy
Grupa Azoty Puławy is situated in a forest complex, on the right bank of the Vistula river, approximately three kilometres from the town of Puławy. The following Natura 2000 protected areas are located in the vicinity of the Company’s site:
- Puławy area,
- Lower Wieprz River,
- Nałęczowski Plateau,
- Middle Vistula River Valley,
- Lesser Poland Vistula Gorge.
The company’s site also neighbours with the following nature reserves, parks and protected landscape areas:
- Piskory nature reserve,
- Łęg na Kępie nature reserve in Puławy,
- Czapliniec nature reserve near Gołąb,
- Kazimierski Park Krajobrazowy landscape park,
- Pradolina Wieprza (Wieprz River Glacier Valley) protected landscape area,
- Kozi Bór protected landscape area.
It is located in an enclave surrounded by the ecological corridors of the Middle Vistula River Valley, Lower Wieprz River Valley and Vistula River Gorge of Lesser Poland. Calculations of air pollution dispersion made for the purposes of the documentation prepared to obtain the integrated permit show that the company does not breach the air quality standards outside the area it owns.
The amount of noise from noise emitters on the premises of Grupa Azoty Puławy does not exceed the permitted night- and day-time noise levels in acoustically protected areas.
Since 2005, there has been a peregrine falcons’ brooding nest on the flue gas stack of Grupa Azoty Puławy’s FGD unit. Every year since 2013, the birds have been laying eggs in the nest. More than 20 young falcons have already left the nest. The flue gas stack, part of the CHP plant, is 160 metres tall and provides an excellent location for the peregrine falcon’s nest. There are tens of avian species present on the company’s site. Ornithologists observe the birds’ environment, taking care of the nest and ringing falcon hatchlings each year. The programme was continued in 2021.
Grupa Azoty Police
Grupa Azoty Police does not own any areas of significant natural value. No part of the company’s premises is subject to national or EU nature protection regulations. However, the nature reserves of Białodrzew Kopicki, Olszanka, Uroczysko Święta, and Świdwie are located in the vicinity of the company’s site. The company also neighbours with Natura 2000 sites:
- Police Kanały (Police Canals) – about 400 metres from the plant site,
- Zalew Szczeciński (Szczecin Lagoon) – about 2 kilometres from the plant site,
- Ostoja Wkrzańska (Wkra Refuge, formerly Puszcza Wkrzańska) – about 2 kilometres from the plant site,
- Oder Estuary and Szczecin Lagoon – about 2.5 kilometres from the plant site.
The Police-based company operates two landfills on its premises. Thanks to the strict technological regime, their environmental impact has been reduced to a minimum. For more than a quarter of a century, Grupa Azoty Police has been consistently introducing higher vegetation cover on the landfill site. The area is covered mainly with aspen, acacia, hybrid willow, birch, poplar, elderberry, pine, silverberry shrubs and Syberian peashrub. The condition of the grass sod, the extent to which it covers the site, the visual appearance of the plants and their ability to go through all development phases, including growth of fertile shoots, demonstrate that numerous plant species develop normally in this environment. For a number of years, the landfill site has been a habitat for many plant species and animals, such as beech martens, otters, stoats, foxes, roe deer, boars and about 100 species of birds.
Based on observations by ornithologists from the Szczecin University, the area adjacent to the landfill site has been found comparable to the Świdwie reserve in terms of the number and diversity of bird species.
BEST PRACTICE
Nesting boxes for peregrine falcons have been installed on one of the flue gas stacks of Grupa Azoty Police’s plant. The company covers the costs of online broadcast from the nest and from the front of the nesting box. The project, continued in 2021, has been run in cooperation with the ‘Sokół’ (‘Falcon’) Wildlife Protection Association of Włocławek since 2016.
BEST PRACTICE
At the Grupa Azoty Group, we are aware that big changes are sometimes made up of small steps. On the fencing of Grupa Azoty premises at Chemiczna Street in Tarnów, the company employees planted Virginia creeper cuttings. The vine grows very fast and can absorb up to 500 kg of CO2 per year. It will process the absorbed carbon dioxide into oxygen, and its climbers are capable of capturing and accumulating heavy metals, as well as removing fine dust and impurities from the air. The project was joined by representatives of the Grupa Azoty Management Board and a sizeable group of employees of the Tarnów-based company. Tools used in the ‘Green Fence’ campaign were provided by a company which manufactures them using plastics produced by the Grupa Azoty Group.
Wherever possible, we seek to compensate nature for the effect of our industrial activities. One example is our Osiek Sulfur Mine, where sulfur is produced using the underground smelting method, in boreholes that run 130-170 metres deep, with closed circulation of formation water. In this method, hot water is injected through the boreholes into the deposits, causing sulfur to melt. Molten sulfur is then lifted to the surface by compressed air. Sulfur production interferes with the natural environment, but not so much as to threaten the equilibrium and affect biodiversity.
With thick vegetation cover, the mine site does not look like a mining area at all. The mine operates in harmony with nature and the extraction process itself is environmentally sound. In addition, Grupa Azoty Siarkopol, which manages the mine, has for years been running an ambitious remediation programme, with the ultimate goal to achieve full restoration of the natural environment. The mining field in Osiek and the areas already remediated have become an excellent habitat for wildlife and birds. More than 100,000 trees in total have been planted, and the aggregate area of restored land exceeds 45 ha.
