3.3. Water Resources Protection

The Company has in place a water management system at every onshore and offshore facility, regardless of the region of its location, or sources of fresh- or seawater it uses. Gazprom’s EMS assesses the risks for each of the Company’s subsidiaries and production facilities.

Efficient water resources management is part of the measures taken to implement the Environmental Policy of the Group, which facilitates, among other things, cooperation with local communities, the government and investors.

A water supplier in certain Russian regions, Gazprom is responsible for providing the local communities with clean water. In a number of cases, the Group receives wastewater under contracts with external parties, which prompts it to pay even closer attention to non-production wastewater discharges.

Water is withdrawn from surface and subterranean sources solely in accordance with the effective legislation (and pursuant to water use agreements and extraction licenses), without causing any significant impact on the environment.

None of the regions of the Company’s production operations are classified as areas with water stress.

The operational environmental control and monitoring (OECM) system enables the Company to monitor the quality of surface and ground water and sediments; water sources for utility and drinking purposes; the state of the geological environment, soils and snow cover, as well as waste and effluents. With the assistance of accredited laboratories, Group companies annually analyze millions of samples to assess the contamination of facilities’ industrial discharges, drinking water, wastewater, surface water bodies and soils. The analysis serves as the basis for studies to collect data and determine the nature, amount and scale of the Company’s impact on the environment. The study findings are then used to develop measures to manage Gazprom’s environmental activities.

In order to organize and conduct operational environmental control and monitoring, the Company develops annual monitoring and observation programs and obtains the relevant approvals from state supervisory authorities.

The OECM system enables the Company to promptly receive reliable information on the environmental conditions at its production facilities and in the areas affected by them, conduct timely engineering review of the current environmental situation in the course of production and business activities, plan environmental protection measures, monitor their implementation and make informed environmental management decisions.

Some of the Gazprom Group’s OECM systems are integrated with regional environmental monitoring systems.

The Group’s OECM programs provide for environmental monitoring of designated conservation areas or sites with a special environmental status located on the territories affected by the Group’s activities.

In 2021, water use by Gazprom Group companies increased by 20% year on-year due to higher power generation by Gazprom Energoholding compared to 2020.

In 2021, the volume of recycled and reused water across the Gazprom Group went up 7% year-on-year.

In 2021, wastewater discharges grew by 22% driven by increased water use.

The Gazprom Group has been keeping the share of partially clean water at 97% since 2019.