Climate Change Position
Our Commitment: We are committed to meeting the triple challenge of taking action on climate-related risk, improving lives by meeting society’s demand for energy and making sustainable financial investments in order to become the energy company of choice for all stakeholders, including investors, employees, governments, customers and the communities where we operate.
Climate Science: We acknowledge the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the use of fossil fuels contribute to increases in global temperatures.
Climate Policy: We acknowledge the importance that current science places on limiting global average temperature increases to below 2-degree Celsius compared to pre-industrial times, and to achieve that, current science shows that global GHG emissions need to reach net-zero in the second half of this century. We support the Paris Agreement as a welcomed global policy response to that challenge.
To effectively address climate-related risk, policy strategies must link regional, national and sub-national efforts through collaboration with governments and policy bodies, public-private partnerships, business initiatives and civil society. We believe the most effective tool to reduce GHG emissions across the economy is through a well-designed emissions pricing regime.
Our Actions: We continue to integrate climate-related risk activities and goals into our corporate strategy. We focus on the following areas:
- Building strong governance to provide accountability for the management of climate-related risk.
- Reducing our GHG emissions intensity through emission reductions and production efficiency to lower our exposure to regulatory risk and meet our long term GHG target.
- Lowering our long-term cost of supply to lower our exposure to the potential impact of demand changes on commodity prices.
- Managing energy transition and physical climate-related risks to create a sustainable business.
- Leveraging our energy transition strategy process to manage new business risks and opportunities.
- Engaging externally to support practical, sustainable climate policy solutions.
Oversight: The Public Policy Committee of the Board of Directors has oversight of all sustainable development issues, including the management of climate-related risks. The Executive Leadership Team (ELT) manages day-to-day climate-related risks and opportunities and assists the businesses in implementing climate-related plans. Responsibility for managing climate-related issues rests with the senior vice president (SVP), Strategy and Planning who reports directly to the chief executive officer. The SVP serves as the ELT’s climate change champion, with overall accountability for corporate planning and development, including corporate strategy and long-range planning. In addition, the Sustainability and Public Policy Executive Council, a sub-committee of the ELT, has global oversight of existing and emerging sustainable development and public policy risks and trends including climate change. The Vice President of Sustainable Development is responsible for climate risk strategy, risk assessment and management processes, and climate action plans.
We have had a public global climate change position since 2003. The position is reviewed periodically, agreed to by the ELT and then recommended to the board.