Our approach to reporting

We have voluntarily reported on our environmental and social performance since 1997 because it matters to our stakeholders and to our business success.

Meeting different audiences’ needs

Our Sustainability Report is targeted at external stakeholders. For those with specialist interests in environmental and social issues, our Responsible Energy website provides more in-depth information on our thinking, our policies and our performance. In addition, we describe our approach to managing environmental and social risks and opportunities in our Annual Report and Form 20-F. Throughout the year, we co-operate with many groups that provide investors with information and analysis about the environmental and social performance of companies. These groups include the producers of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, FTSE4Good, Goldman Sachs Global Energy Environmental, Social and Governance Index, and the Carbon Disclosure Project. We provide a separate Sustainability Review for our customers and suppliers, summarising the areas of our performance most relevant to them. The review is also distributed to our staff as part of a wider internal communication effort to illustrate what our commitment to sustainability means for their day-to-day work.

What assures?

We continue with the approach to assurance we launched in 2005 – using an External Review Committee of experts to check that our reporting is balanced, relevant and responsive to stakeholders. The Committee’s wide-ranging challenges and advice on our report are based on their deep knowledge of the issues and their first-hand experience of working with us. We continue to benefit from these insights and our readers remain strongly positive about the Committee’s role. We intend to rotate two members out of the six-person Committee each year, so that we manage our demands on Committee members’ time, and balance the need for continuity and fresh perspectives. We did this for the first time in 2007.

Between 1998 and 2004, with the advice of external auditors, we developed a range of internal controls to help assure accuracy of the facts in our Sustainability Report. These controls include audit trails for all the data and statements included in the report, approved by senior managers and available for inspection. Senior business leaders sign off on the quality of their HSSE data and we have extensive statistical checks in place to detect errors. In 2007, we strengthened controls on the information received from the internal questionnaire we send to our senior representatives in each country where we operate. We incorporated more of the information we require in our system for collecting financial information, so improving the reliability of that data.

Alignment with external guidelines

We use the Global Reporting Initiative’s G3 guidelines for sustainability reports. According to our own assessment, we achieved an A+ level of application of the guidelines in 2007. We also report in line with the guidelines of the International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association and describe on the Shell website our contribution to the UN Global Compact and to the Millennium Development Goals.

Reporting on what matters most

To ensure we address the environmental and social issues that matter most not just to us, but also to our stakeholders, we use a well-established and auditable content selection process.