SIBUR's Green Formula supported a tree planting campaign on the grounds of Tobolsk's School No. 16

25 september 2023

Tobolsk's V.P. Neymyshev School No. 16 became a host for a volunteering tree-planting event held on the school's grounds located in the city's 10th and 15th residential districts. The event was carried out as part of SIBUR's Green Formula reforestation and climate-action program with the support of Tyumen Oblast's Forestry Department and the Tobolsk Branch of the Tyumen Airbase.

The volunteering campaign brought more than 140 attendees, including SIBUR's employees and their family members, as well as students of the final 11A class. In all, the volunteers ended up planting 188 saplings of various species of large-sized trees.

School 16's first building in residential area 10 was completely renovated earlier this year as part of a program called The True Tobolsk, implemented jointly by Tyumen Oblast authorities and by SIBUR. The school's second building in residential area 15 was commissioned in 2019 under the "Tobolsk 2020" program. Thanks to the Green Formula, the two locations now feature more birches, lindens, rowans, pines, and apple trees.

Elena Belskaya, ZapSibNeftekhim's Director of Government Relations and Socio-Economic Projects:
It has already become our good tradition to gather in the fall and carry out mass-scale volunteering campaigns to plant saplings in Tobolsk proper and in the Tobolsk District. It's wonderful to be able to keep working together to make the communities where we live greener. I think it's also a great opportunity to put down roots in the ground of our lovely city. I would like to thank all of our partners for their support and assistance in all of our forestry initiatives, as well as the campaign's participants for their responsiveness and enthusiastic personal commitment to greening our new school.

Oksana Yemets, Principal of V.P. Neymyshev School No. 16:
Together with our students, their parents and teachers, we have decided on a name for our little park on the grounds of School No. 16. Our Green Island has gotten a lot cozier today and is now filled with young trees. The campaign attracted a lot of volunteers, including SIBUR's employees, students, students' parents, and our own alumni. We worked as one cohesive team and planted 188 trees. I am overcome with emotions and am so grateful to every single individual who took part in the event.

Svetlana Cherepanova, a landscaping expert with Tobolskstroyzakazchik, gave a master class for all the participants on how to plant tall sapling trees with a well-developed root system. According to Svetlana Cherepanova, anyone can plant a tree, but there are a few nuances and subtleties that need to be taken into account while doing so. During her talk, Svetlana explained and showed to the participants how to plant young trees in a proper way so that they stay alive and take root.

Anton Popov, senior process engineer at ZapSibNeftekhim:
This was a fantastic event that brought together people with the shared noble goal of building a beautiful, clean, green world around them. Events such as this remain forever etched in one's memory and help build stronger links between generations. We hope this will become a good tradition for our own family. We would like to thank the organizers for the opportunity to take part in such a great event and we would not hesitate to do it again.

Nikolay Kasyanenko, SIBURINTEKH expert:
What I enjoyed the most was that this campaign has given everyone an opportunity to contribute to improving their city's environment and help put our schoolchildren in a good mood, because it is these children who will be enjoying the fruit of our labor. I will always be happy to take part in any upcoming events like this!

Respect for the environment is one of the fundamental principles behind SIBUR's Sustainable Development Strategy. By 2025, the company intends to plant at least 5 million trees as part of its Green Formula reforestation and climate-action program. The program includes plans for carrying out large-scale tree-planting campaigns with a focus on species offering the optimal CO2 absorption potential, as well as other types of volunteering activities, cooperation with school forestry teams, and tending to the planted trees. The Green Formula has partnered with Tyumen Oblast's Forestry Department by signing a cooperation agreement for the preservation and replenishment of forest resources and the advancement of the region's school forestry organizations. Since the launch of the Green Formula program, the company's employees, local residents and school forestry activists have contributed to the planting of more than 17,500 pine seedlings and other species' saplings in Tobolsk and the Tobolsk district on an area covering more than 4 hectares of forest.

Natalia Chusovitina, ZapSibNeftekhim expert:
Two of my children attend this school as we live close by. That's why together with my children we were excited to take part in this activity. We took note of where we had planted our trees and will be sure to keep an eye on the saplings. A child who has planted a tree will never hurt one.

Daniil Demenkov, SIBUR Connect specialist:
I was pleasantly surprised by the top-notch organization of this event. We were provided with absolutely everything, from gloves to delicious meals at the end. I also very much enjoyed socializing with the other participants. Everyone helped each other and people weren't shy to ask questions if they didn't understand how to plant a tree correctly. We enjoyed the experience immensely and will participate again, thanks to the organizers! I hope the trees that have been planted today will take root and will delight future generations!

Rustam Tavabilov, senior expert at SIBURINTEKH:
The event was a pure delight! It was immediately clear where to go, where one could pick up the tools, what to do, and how to plant. The souvenirs that we were gifted, the rain poncho and the bag, also came in very handy. And it took a family effort to complete the puzzle for the kids! The meal was very delicious, I had not eaten such a tasty buckwheat meal before. And the most important benefit is that thanks to our participation in the event, I accomplished one of the three most important missions of any man by planting a tree!