Our approach to sustainability
Sustainability is not new to bp, but we want to embed it more widely and deeply in our culture and mindset, business decisions, working methods and governance – building on the strong foundations put in place over many decades
Policies and practices
We set out our expectations for how we manage environmental and social performance in our policies, practices and statements.
Our expectations of suppliers are documented to help them develop and strengthen their relationships with us by acting in accordance with the code.
Governance and business processes
We are strengthening the ways we build sustainability into our wider governance structure and practices, reinforcing work done over many years. In January 2021, we introduced a new sustainability structure that helps us do this.
The board is responsible for oversight of the overall conduct of the group’s business, setting our strategy, setting our sustainability frame, and our approach to the energy transition. It reviews and monitors performance against our strategy and net zero ambition and aims. It also confirms that the process required to assess our principal risks is in place.
The board-level safety and sustainability committee (S&SC) oversees effective implementation of the sustainability frame and how process safety and operational integrity, security, personal safety and operational health, environmental and social risks are managed.
Ethics and accountability
We expect our employees to work in line with both and to treat others with respect, fairness and dignity. Our code of conduct sets clear expectations for how we work at bp. It applies to all our employees and members of the board and as we implement our new strategy, the code underscores the belief that how we deliver is as important as what we deliver.
We provide regular training and communications to employees about how to apply the code in their daily work and in 2021, we updated this to emphasize the importance of sustainability.
Anti-bribery and corruption
We operate in parts of the world where bribery and corruption present a high risk, so it’s important that we make our position regarding both absolutely clear to our employees, contractors, suppliers and others in any way connected to our business.
Our code of conduct explicitly prohibits engaging in bribery or corruption in any form. Our group-wide anti-bribery and corruption policy and procedures include measures and guidance to assess risks, understand relevant laws and report concerns. They apply to all bp-operated businesses. Appropriate training is focused on the needs of employees in locations or roles assessed to be at a higher risk of bribery and corruption.
Speaking up
We want our employees, contractors, vendors, third parties and other stakeholders to feel comfortable about speaking up whenever they have a question or concern about our code, or if they see something that they feel is unethical or unsafe. Concerns and enquiries can be raised through multiple channels: with line managers or other senior leaders, supporting teams, including human resources, legal, ethics and compliance and through work councils. Concerns can also be raised anonymously via OpenTalk, the bp global confidential helpline. This is administered by an independent company and is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It can accommodate calls in more than 75 languages by phone or web.
Our people
We have more than 65,000 employees around the world, and they are crucial to delivering our purpose and strategy. We focus on attraction, recruitment and development to help ensure we have the skills we need today and are prepared for our transition to become an integrated energy company.
Preparing bp for the energy transition
For more than a century, bp employees have come to work to help solve some of the world’s greatest energy challenges. People want to work for an organization that makes a difference and has a clear purpose; an organization that supports, encourages and empowers them.
We have thousands of engineers, scientists, and other highly skilled people, all with deep technical expertise. We also have increasingly diverse teams enabling us to draw on a range of talents that better reflect the societies we serve.
We aim to provide our people with the skills they need for their current roles and for the energy transition and we are hiring individuals from outside our industry with skills and experiences we do not currently possess.
Diversity, equity and inclusion
We want our workforce and customers to experience greater equity – fair treatment according to everyone’s different needs and situations – while also helping our partners in the bp ‘ecosystem’ do the same. We are making progress on our objectives to build diverse workforce, offer inclusive customers experiences and multiply diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) through our partners and suppliers. We have established governance and measurement processes to enable ongoing performance improvements and published our second DE&I report in July 2022, following our first report, published in June 2021.
Incentivization and performance management
To help our employees deliver our strategy and sustainability aims, we are educating them about the importance of net zero, incentivizing them to become advocates and providing the support they need to do so. Our annual bonus for all eligible employees, including the bp leadership team, has been linked to a sustainability measure since 2019 and the bonus scorecard against which our employees are measured incentivizes them through three themes: safety and sustainability, operational performance and financial performance.
Engagement and collaboration
We engage with a range of stakeholders to help us progress our aims, deliver safe operations and improve safety for our workforce, local communities and our industry. Our engagement takes many different forms, reflecting the complex, global nature of our business.
Engagement also helps us create value, by delivering solutions for customers and supply chain partners, investing in our employees and paying taxes.
We work with our stakeholders to address complex sustainability challenges including climate change, biodiversity and a just transition. Our engagement includes partnering with cities and corporations to help them decarbonize – including those with Houston in the US, Aberdeen in Scotland, the Valencia region in Spain and CEMEX, Maersk McKinney Moller, NYK Line, Qantas, Microsoft and Uber.
