In 2022, ConocoPhillips contributed $33.9 million to extend its charitable focus on our signature causes (math education and conservation), while also supporting local community needs and global humanitarian relief. An additional $2.3 million supported our university relations grants.

Key to academic and career success, math remains core to our work and is the central focus of our Houston Signature Program. In 2022, this program expanded support for high school mathematics education and student enrichment with new programs to reduce barriers faced by students in underserved communities and help bridge the gap from graduation to meaningful careers. Our employees hosted a OneGoal Corporate Career Day for high school students to share career insights and provide professional development resources. We also partnered with the Houston Texans on the Inspire Change grant initiative, which funds local nonprofits and educational programs that support racial equity and social justice.

At the college level, we expanded our relationship with Prairie View A&M University, a historically Black university, to enhance opportunities for undergraduate students interested in engineering and business analytics. Our nearly $1.2 million multi-year gift will be used for a new state-of-the-art engineering lab, scholarships and funding for new professors and academic support.

Wildlife habitat protection continued to be a key emphasis for our Global Signature Program promoting conservation. In May, we sponsored the Central Grasslands Roadmap summit, which brought together more than 200 organizations representing the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Indigenous Peoples/First Nations in-person for the first time to collectively identify and prioritize immediate actions to conserve and protect the central grasslands ecosystem, which spans more than 600 million acres and provides critical support for biodiversity, food security, water supply and climate resiliency. Our conservation efforts also supported seven migratory bird joint ventures, facilitating the preservation of more than 550,000 grassland acres in this region in 2022.

Honoring our commitment to be a good neighbor, we invested in communities across our global operations. For example, in Canada, we committed $500,000 to replace the helicopter fleet for the Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service Foundation (STARS), a nonprofit organization that provides rapid and specialized emergency care and transportation for critically ill patients. We were honored to receive the Outstanding CSR Project of 2022 award at the China Corporate Citizens Forum for our on-going efforts to support children with congenital heart disease. In the U.S., we launched ConocoPhillips Small Biz Builder, a new program to promote entrepreneurism. In its inaugural year, 28 local businesses in the Permian Basin completed the program and received capital funding and training. 

We were deeply troubled and saddened by the escalating humanitarian crisis resulting from the war in Ukraine and donated more than $2.1 million toward humanitarian aid. Our company provided an additional $100,000 in disaster relief to assist local communities impacted by Typhoon Merbok in western Alaska and devastating wildfires in New Mexico.

2022 Social Investments

Beyond cash contributions and university relations we invested an additional $23.8 million for contractual contributions, sponsorships, social infrastructure donations, in-kind donations and memberships.

Input and insight from business units are overlaid by uniform, global processes and policies to provide:

  • Due diligence scrutiny of potential partners.
  • Consistent project selection criteria and focus wherever we operate.
  • Appropriate audits and document retention.
  • Tracking and assessment of performance metrics and impact.

The global charitable investment budget is reviewed annually by the Executive Leadership Team and approved by the Public Policy and Sustainability Committee of the Board.

Alignment with UN SDGs

The United Nations (UN) General Assembly has adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that set the global agenda for equitable, socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable economic development. Our core business of delivering energy to the world contributes directly to:

  • Goal 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.
  • Goal 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.

Many of our business and community investment activities support other goals related to education, poverty and good health. Our 2022 global charitable investments supported the following UN SDGs:

ConocoPhillips alignment with UN SDGs

We are working with Ipieca, the global oil and gas industry association for environmental and social issues, on the role the oil and gas industry can most effectively play to support the achievement of the globally endorsed framework of the UN SDGs.