Development of Irkutsk Hydro and other reservoirs of Angara Cascade led to resettlement of about 200,000 people and disappearance of hundreds of Siberian towns and villages. Lately all those dams were solidified in the hands of En+Group and one more, Boguchanskaya Hydro,

Climate change is believed to exacerbate both hydrological extremes and the En+ Group also faces potential challenges in future water-abundant years. Due to the uncontrolled growth of Irkutsk city immediately downstream from Irkutsk Hydro, the dam’s ability to safely release water without drowning city buildings is severely reduced (approximately from 6000 m³/sec as originally designed to 3500 m³/sec). When another climatic extreme hits the Lake Baikal basin, the En+ will likely first fill the Irkutsk Reservoir to the brim, thus bringing destruction to low-lying lake banks in the Buryatia Republic and, then, to avoid risks of dam failure, it will have to increase water release and flood the low-lying portions of downstream municipalities in the Irkutsk region. This will likely result in damage to the Company’s reputation, material damage and tragic consequences for lacustrine\riparian communities. Unfortunately we are not aware of any publicly accessible climate-adaptation action plan of the Company, despite its marketing strategy as a most climate-friendly enterprise.

Hydropower plants of its Angara Cascade depend on water resource management of the Lake Baikal World Heritage Site, the depository of 20% of the earth’s unfrozen freshwater and home to more than 2500 biological species, most of them endemic. During the Soviet era, the construction of the Irkutsk dam, that raised the Lake's water level by 1 meter and ruined its natural water regime, as well as toxic discharge from the Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Mill (previously owned by Mr. Deripaska and now closed and transferred to the Government for clean-up) have been recognized as two of the greatest causes of degradation of the Lake Baikal ecosystem. In 2015-17 the Government of Russia without any EIA allowed more than a two-fold increase in water level fluctuations in Lake Baikal during "extreme drought". Those changes were justified by such needs as sustaining energy production by the Angara cascade hydropower plants and safe functioning of water intakes, at least one of which also belongs to an En+ coal-fired power plant.

In 2017, recognizing that the natural water regime is the key driver of the health of the freshwater ecosystem, the World Heritage Committee in its decisions "notes with concern the Government's resolution increasing the allowed fluctuation between the maximum and minimum water levels of Lake Baikal in 2016-201 and urges the State Party to elaborate an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of potential impacts of existing water use and management regulations on the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property and not to introduce any further changes in the regulations until their effects on the property are fully understood." A similar request was made in 2016.

En+ Group combines largest aluminum enterprise in the world (outside China) - United Company Rusal and electricity generation company EuroSibEnergo. In terms of actual production process and damage caused these two are inseparable, since aluminum smelters cannot survive without cheap electricity. The UC Rusal is one of the major polluting industries in cities of Siberia, known for continuous violation of environmental regulations. Besides smelters, it owns 50% in Boguchanskaya Hydro, the fourth power plant recently built on Angara River even without conducting proper environmental impact assessment. To avoid reputational risk the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development excluded participation of the En+ project for construction of the Boguchanskaya hydro-power station from its Strategy in the Russian Federation. This refusal came after NGOs had informed the bank about massive violations of Russian environmental law during project implementation, which have been officially recognized by Rostekhnadzor Agency , and about the use of prisoners’ labor in the station’s reservoir construction. Construction of  Boguchansky Aluminum Smelter which the HPP serves has never been completed as planned.

As a result of creating the Irkutsk Hydro dam in the late 1950s the level of Lake Baikal has risen by 1 m. The surface area of the lake has increased by 500 square km. This has resulted in serious ecological problems.

The majority of giant hydropower plants and aluminum smelters owned by the Group were built in Soviet times without taking into consideration environmental and social consequences. The Group's facilities and projects continue to exert huge negative social and environmental impacts. Current self-advertising of the En+ Group as a "green business" is undue and premature exaggeration not supported by a responsible environmental management system, which the Group is yet to design, communicate to stakeholders and put into effect.