Reviewing our environmental strategy

Employees in discussion, BP office, Beijing, China

BP reviewed its environmental strategy in 2008, identifying selected areas for adopting a progressive position to protect our privilege to operate

The strategy also emphasizes the need to remain focused on business needs, risk management and compliance with regulation.

Environmental leadership

BP has taken a progressive stance on several environmental issues for more than a decade, launching voluntary initiatives to reduce GHG emissions, for example. In reviewing our environmental strategy in 2008, we determined to retain focus on the fundamental priorities of managing risk, with a particular focus on sensitive areas; driving continuous improvement and complying with applicable laws and regulations.

Industry leadership

We have taken an innovative stance in our industry in developing processes to minimize the risks our activities pose to environmentally-sensitive areas. We are building on this position by updating our environmental requirements for new projects (ERNP) to include social indicators and integrating them in an environmental group defined practice, part of the OMS.

In other fields, such as climate change, we will continue to be proactive in our response. On public sustainability reporting, we will look for opportunities to innovate, recognizing that communicating effectively is essential for building good relationships with external stakeholders and for energizing and attracting employees.

Responding to emerging issues

As part of the OMS, we are formalizing how we identify, monitor and respond to emerging environmental issues, such as access rights to water, to ensure we can assess and respond at an early stage of development.

On some issues, our early response has enabled us to be better prepared for regulation. For example, the implementation of our own energy efficiency and GHG-reduction programmes has given us insight into reducing emissions while delivering bottom-line value, which will help our operations prepare to meet more stringent regulations.

Protecting our privilege to operate

Compliance with environmental regulation is, of course, a fundamental aspect of maintaining our privilege to operate. As such it is not only a basic aspect of being a responsible operator, but underpins all our efforts to take a progressive stance and sustain long-term business value.