Rosneft Completed Sustainable Development Report for 2007
Rosneft has recently completed its 2007 Sustainable Development Report complying with the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Reporting Guidelines and assigned the B+ GRI rating.
The report gives a broad perspective on the Company’s social and environmental performance in 2007 as well as the corresponding effects on Rosneft’s business at large, its shareholders and employees, and others concerned. The document provides unified and comprehensive coverage of the Company’s health, safety and environmental protection policy, regional socioeconomic development performance, impacts on local environments and communities, social policy and staff training issues, interaction with the government at all levels and other parties, sponsorship and charity policy, etc.
The 2007 Sustainable Development Report is primarily addressed to Rosneft’s shareholders, business partners and clients, state and municipal officials, public and environmental organizations, representatives of indigenous minorities, academic audience, journalists, etc. In the framework of report preparation, Rosneft held a series of panel discussions with all the parties concerned. In 2008, this initiative cut across 17 regions of the Company’s operation, compared to only 8 regions covered in the previous year.
 |
Sustainability reporting is Rosneft’s voluntary initiative that confirms its strong commitment to the highest standards of corporate governance and the ongoing effort to increase information transparency. The 2007 Sustainable Development Report involves a broad range of core principles and indicators to comprehensively measure the Company’s social and environmental performance. As a result, the new report has been rated as B+ under GRI’s Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, while the first sustainability report published in 2007 had only the B compliance rating. This year, Rosneft also engaged a leading global professional services firm, Ernst & Young, to perform an independent audit of the 2007 Sustainable Development Report, which further confirmed the Company’s compliance with global best practice in corporate governance.
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) international program, launched by the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES) in 1997, is a collaborating center of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). GRI’s vision is that reporting on economic, environmental, and social performance by all organizations is as routine and comparable as financial reporting. The GRI reporting framework is based on the principles of comparability, accuracy, transparency, timeliness, and accountability.
In 2008, Rosneft’s sustainable development panel discussions were held in:
- Arkhangelsk Region and Arkhangelsk
- Komi Republic, Syktyvkar and Usinsk
- Udmurt Republic and Izhevsk
- Krasnodar Region and Krasnodar
- Tuapse
- Altai Region and Barnaul
- Irkutsk Region and Angarsk
- Khabarovsk Region and Khabarovsk
- Komsomolsk-on-Amur
- Samara Region, Samara and Syzran
- Novokuibyshevsk (Samara Region)
- Smolensk Region and Smolensk
- Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District and Gubkinsky
- Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous District and Nefteyugansk
- Krasnoyarsk Region and Achinsk
- Stavropol Region, Stavropol and Neftekumsk
- Sakhalin Region, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Okha, and Nogliki Village
* * *
On September 18, 2008, Rosneft held public consultations dedicated to its recent social and environmental performance, and presented the sustainability development report for 2007. The initiative brought together more than 50 participants, including the Company’s top managers and senior executives of Rosneft — Yuganskneftegaz, Rosneft — Severnaya Neft and Rosneft — Tuapse Refinery, as well as federal and regional state officials, municipal officers, journalists, representatives of public organizations and investment institutions, university teachers, and etc.
Commenting on the Company’s social and environmental performance in 2007, Rosneft’s Vice-President Sergey Karaganov emphasized the continuing focus on comprehensive and holistic sustainability reporting as part of the Company’s commitment to actively adopt standards and practices generally accepted in the global business community. “Seeking to further improve our business transparency and corporate governance, we have implemented a sound system to regularly inform Rosneft’s shareholders and other interested parties of all sustainable development issues,” Mr. Karaganov said.
 |
In outlining key objectives of sustainability reporting, Rosneft’s Vice-President Peter O’Brien noted the Company’s remarkable development potential that could be fully utilized only through mutually beneficial regional partnership and efficient interaction with all parties concerned. “Being the best partner is not only about taxes — it is also about investing, dealing with social and environmental issues, fostering innovation, and an array of other aspects. Therefore, to maintain competitive edge, we will need to intensify our efforts to boost the Company’s performance throughout all such areas. Sustainability reporting is a convenient means to communicate our approach, values, and successes to every party concerned,” Mr. O’Brien commented.
Conference participants were highly appreciative of Rosneft’s sustainability initiative. According to Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council’s Committee on Economic Policy, Business and Ownership Andrey Khazin, sustainable development reporting will soon become a generally accepted information disclosure practice with publicly traded companies. Mr. Khazin also noted the Company’s concerted effort to publish sustainability reports on a regular basis, and was particularly supportive of Rosneft’s endeavors to promote an open dialogue with all interested parties. According to Mr. Khazin, the Company’s sustainable development policy fully reflects the rising global awareness of socioeconomic processes in Russia.
 |
Additionally, Andrey Khazin dwelt on certain critical issues of interaction between governments and business communities. In his view, ongoing cooperation between the state and business majors is the only proven approach to driving the economy, and comprehensive sustainability reporting significantly contributes to joint success. As sustainability reporting is not legislatively mandated in Russia, Rosneft’s initiatives in this area are particularly important.
According to Oleg Shvyrkov, Deputy Head of Corporate Governance Rating Service, Standard & Poor’s, Rosneft currently ranks among the top three most transparent Russian petroleum companies in terms of social and environmental performance. “Assessing the transparency of a Russian company’s social and environmental policies is central to corporate governance system analysis, as shareholders should be fully aware of how a company is performing in these areas,” Mr. Shvyrkov emphasized.
The sustainability report presentation also motivated feedback from representatives of various environmental organizations. In particular, Evgeny Schwartz (WWF Russia) and Lyudmila Bogdan (Russian Regional Environmental Center) talked about the need to foster a concerted and open dialogue with all interested parties with respect to environmental protection and resource use issues.
Rosneft’s sustainable development discussions were primarily aimed at providing a comprehensive overview of the Company’s social and environmental performance in 2007, identifying ways to enhance interaction with government authorities as well as federal and regional communities, and getting feedback about the overall progress in sustainable development. Discussion participants unanimously agreed that all major objectives of the September initiative had been accomplished.
Rosneft Information Division
|
