Managing our impact | Society | Sustainability

We believe that host societies and local communities should share in the value that our activities create. BP’s projects and operations have the potential to benefit local communities by creating jobs, supporting community development initiatives, generating tax revenues and providing opportunities for local suppliers.

Assessing impacts

Projects that are subject to our environmental and social practices are required to carry out an early screening to evaluate the potential environmental and socio-economic sensitivities in the area and how our activities might affect them.

The socio-economic issues that we evaluate during screenings include corruption and bribery, social tension, indigenous people, security and human rights, community health and safety, workforce welfare, local employment, cultural heritage, and the physical and economic aspects of involuntary resettlement.

Potential impacts from oil and gas companies

We understand that the way our industry manages its socio-economic impacts has consequences for people’s health, wellbeing, culture and livelihoods.



	Potential positive impacts	Potential negative impacts	Examples of what BP is doing to mitigate potential risks
Indigenous people	There could be economic benefits, including employment opportunities.	Indigenous people could be excluded from opportunities to share in the economic benefits of a project or operation.	In Australia, BP has been involved with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities for more than a decade. Our commitment to indigenous people is set out in our reconciliation action plan, which aims to formalize some of the work we have been doing to create sustainable employment opportunities. In Canada, BP continued consulting and building relationships in 2012 with aboriginal groups surrounding our Terre de Grace lease. Oil sands Indigenous people
Cultural heritage	Heritage could be preserved with support from the company.	Cultural heritage sites or cultural customs could be damaged or destroyed.	We developed a plan to protect cultural heritage in Azerbaijan as we developed the South Caucasus Pipeline. Working in sensitive areas
Community consultation and engagement	People living near to sites or planned sites could be given fair opportunity to express any concerns and to find out how they might be affected	The concerns of communities around sites or planned sites could be ignored.	Our operations and projects develop their relationships with local stakeholders and address concerns that they receive from communities. In Indonesia and Azerbaijan, independent advisory panels help BP to recognize and address our impact on local communities and broader society. Independent panels Country reports
Economic impacts on communities	The presence of a multinational company could lead to the direct employment of local people	The multinational company could make no effort to recruit and train the local workforce.	In Trinidad & Tobago we have developed a local workforce over many years of operations.
Building the capacity of local businesses and industries	The company could promote opportunities for local businesses to learn how to develop the processes and capabilities needed to enter into relationships with them, or to develop businesses in other sectors.	The company could ignore local businesses' products and services and decide not to share technical skills.	In Indonesia, we are helping local businesses build their capacity in the Bird's Head region of Papua. In Azerbaijan, Trinidad & Tobago and Angola, we have longstanding local content development strategies. Host societies and communities
National and local government	Government could have constructive relationships with the company, and through them gain technical knowledge and support in their efforts to establish revenue transparency.	If they lack awareness and training on anti-bribery and corruption policies, employees or contractors could unwittingly perpetuate local corruption.	Bribery and corruption is identified as one of the most significant threats to BP's business and reputation. In Indonesia we have been focusing on how contracts are managed with third parties and on raising awareness of potential bribery and corruption risks that employees could face in their day-to-day work. Bribery and corruption
Social investment	Social investment could be designed in consultation with community members to meet real needs and to have long-term beneficial outcomes.	Social investment could be planned and executed in a way that does not address real needs or views or does not have long-term beneficial outcomes.	BP contributes to social investment and community development programmes in consultation with local communities near many of our operations. Sustainability reports - Azerbaijan Sustainability reports - Georgia

Consulting stakeholders

Our ability to operate safely and continuously depends not only on obtaining the necessary official permits from the authorities, but also on the informal ‘permission’ or ‘social licence to operate’ that communities in the surrounding area can choose to give or withhold.

We engage with people who are likely to be affected by new projects or by existing operations. For new projects, we collect socio-economic data during the impact assessment and talk to stakeholders to find out about existing livelihoods and customs, so that we can evaluate how these could be affected.

Our assessment of how we might impact individuals’ livelihoods or ways of life is based on their actual circumstances and not just their legal rights, which may not be well established under local laws. We use local and international experts to help us carry out impact assessments. We then put plans into place to avoid negative impacts wherever possible. Where negative impacts cannot be avoided, we try to minimize the degree and duration of the disruption, and we put mitigations in place or offer compensation where there is no other way to mitigate negative impacts.

Our new projects and existing operations listen to communities’ concerns, complaints or ideas on how to manage our impacts effectively, and we try to address their requests. We are supporting the work of IPIECA, the oil and gas industry association, on the development of industry guidance on managing community grievances.

Myanmar

BP is following with interest how the international community suspended its Myanmar sanctions regime in 2012. We have taken action to better understand the expectations and risks connected with any business activity in the country. Together with other businesses we participated in a UK Trade & Investment delegation that met government and elected representatives, NGOs, media, embassies and international organizations. We did not invest in Myanmar in 2012.

Understanding socio-economic risks and impacts of unplanned events

We began work in 2012 to integrate detailed socio-economic factors into the standardized methodology BP businesses use to assess the risk of potential future incidents such as spills and security incidents. By the end of 2013, the risk methodology is expected to include more information about the socio-economic implications of potential incidents in addition to possible health, safety, environmental, reputational and business impacts.

In 2012, we also began to develop company-wide guidance on evaluating the socio-economic impacts of oil spills and planning for compensation claims handling.

Attestation

The information on this page forms part of the information reviewed and reported on by Ernst & Young as part of BP's 2012 sustainability reporting.

Managing our impact on society

Assessing impacts

Potential impacts from oil and gas companies

Consulting stakeholders

Understanding socio-economic risks and impacts of unplanned events

Attestation

How we do business

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