We're committed to helping meet the world's need for energy in a safe and environmentally responsible manner. We believe that is the right thing to do and that it is critical to our success in a world in which energy sources should be compatible with an environment that's clean, safe and healthy.
That's why we are continually working to improve our processes to reduce pollution and waste, conserve natural resources and reduce potentially negative environmental impacts of our activities and operations.
Protecting the Environment
Wherever we operate, we support diverse programs that help to protect the environment.
Our Operational Excellence Management System is our framework for managing, improving and achieving outstanding environmental performance. We use the process to systematically manage safety, health, the environment, reliability and efficiency.
Our Environmental, Social and Health Impact Assessment (ESHIA) process, deployed in 2007, requires that all new capital projects be evaluated for potential environmental, social and health impacts. ESHIA is used to anticipate and plan for the avoidance, minimization and mitigation of potentially significant negative impacts, as well as for the enhancement of potential benefits during the planning, construction, operation and decommissioning of our projects. Stakeholder engagement throughout the life of a project is central to the ESHIA process. Since its inception, ESHIA has been applied to nearly 900 capital projects worldwide.
Respecting Biodiversity
Our measures to protect the environment are based on our awareness of the value of the complexity of the natural world. We recognize the importance of conserving biological diversity—the rich variety of life on Earth: its ecosystems and species, and the ecological processes that support them. Chevron's Biodiversity Statement expresses our commitment to incorporating biodiversity considerations into capital project evaluations and decision making as part of our ESHIA process. In addition, our business units and operating companies incorporate biodiversity protection into their operations through implementation of our corporate environmental stewardship process. Our Health, Environment and Safety staffs work to protect habitats near our operations and share their best practices through the Chevron Biodiversity Network.
Chevron's management of the Barrow Island oil field, off the northwest coast of Australia, is recognized as an industry benchmark for the coexistence of petroleum development and biodiversity protection. Since operations began in 1964, Chevron has helped prevent the introduction of invasive mammal species and the spread of weeds on this Class A nature reserve. And now, with the development of the Gorgon Project, which will produce liquefied natural gas and domestic gas on the island, Chevron continues to demonstrate that energy production and environmental conservation can coexist.
Another example of our commitment to protecting biodiversity is our partnership with the Project Seahorse Foundation in the Philippines. Together, we helped establish the Minantaw Marine Park and Sanctuary, a 529-acre multiuse marine sanctuary within the Danajon Double Barrier Reef, or Danajon Bank. Danajon Bank is one of just six double barrier reef formations in the world and a center of biodiversity in the Asia-Pacific region. Since the creation of the sanctuary, fish populations have been increasing and bird species that disappeared years ago have started to return. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations recognized the project with a Champions of Biodiversity award in 2011.
Conserving Freshwater Resources
Chevron recognizes the value of fresh water as a fundamental social, environmental and economic resource. As a global company, we know that access to sufficient sources of useful water is essential for the communities where we operate, as well as to our business. Chevron has developed an integrated corporate freshwater management strategy to enhance current processes, tools and guidance on water stewardship and management throughout the corporation. In addition, we developed a global position statement on fresh water, underscoring the significance of this critical resource.
In Kern County, home to Chevron's largest California oil field, we have partnered with the Cawelo Water District to provide much-needed water for agricultural use. Water is a significant byproduct of the steamflooding technology we use to extract more oil from the ground. For every one barrel of oil produced in Kern County, the process generates 10 barrels of water, which we capture, treat and distribute to local farmers.
In April 2011, our refinery in Richmond, California, was named Recycled Water Customer of the Year by the WaterReuse Association, a nonprofit organization focused on sustainable water issues. The award honored the refinery's work on the Richmond Advanced Recycled Expansion (RARE) Water project, a joint effort with the East Bay Municipal Utility District. The RARE facility recycles municipal wastewater into steam used in refinery operations, thereby freeing up 3.5 million gallons of fresh water per day for public use.
Updated: April 2012