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By the end of 2007, we had biodiversity action plans in place at eight major operations in areas of high biodiversity value. This included six operations in places designated by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as Category I-IV protected areas. These plans include measures to monitor, conserve and enhance local biodiversity. We are also developing eight action plans in the Netherlands, with the national department of nature conservation.
We lend our support to international conservation efforts, including the Prince of Wales’ Rainforest Project, which is working to find incentives for nations and farmers to halt mass deforestation.
working strategically WITH CONSERVATION LEADERS
Our biodiversity standard includes a commitment to work with specialists, to both address biodiversity impacts at our facilities and help promote conservation. We are already working with more than 100 scientific and conservation organisations in 40 countries. In 2007 and early 2008, we took the next big step – agreeing long-term collaborative partnerships with two global conservation leaders: International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Wetlands International. The aim is to deepen our relationships with these organisations to increase our support for global conservation efforts and to help reduce the biodiversity impacts of our projects.
The effort will support research programmes on important global conservation themes, like better identification of endangered species and marine conservation. The knowledge and trust built through these programmes will also make it possible for their biodiversity experts to provide us with advice on identifying and mitigating biodiversity risks at the very earliest stages of our oil, gas and biofuels projects. We are contributing $1.1 million a year to each of these partnerships, which are intended to run for the next five years.
our policies
All operations must take a systematic approach to managing environmental impacts, using our Health, Safety, Security and Environment management system.
Global environmental standards define company-wide requirements in areas like responding to oil spills, energy efficiency, continuous venting or flaring of natural gas, air and water emissions from our facilities and handling of waste.
First in our industry to have a biodiversity standard requiring all operations to respect protected biodiversity sites.
First energy company to have a protected areas commitment not to explore or develop for oil and gas in natural World Heritage Sites and follow strict operating practices in other areas of high biodiversity value.
