In 2019, it was reported that the group's total environmental protection expenditure rocketed by 117.9%. The cornerstone of Nornickel's £20 billion environmental programme is the $2.5bn 'Sulphur Project' aimed at recycling toxic SO2 emissions, cutting those emissions by 75% by 2023 in its hometown of Norilsk The project will help capture 1.5 to 1.7 million tonnes of sulphur dioxide per year and recycle those emissions into marketable products. In November 2019 Norilsk Nickel announced plans to cut sulphur dioxide emissions in the region by 90% by 2025 from 2015 levels.