Nature-related impacts

Our activities and operations may contribute to nature impact drivers through land, fresh water, or ocean‑use changes from infrastructure development such as wells, access roads, pipelines and marine platforms. These activities can disrupt habitats, reduce ecological connectivity and affect species distribution. Impacts may also arise from resource use, such as fresh water withdrawal and consumption.

We manage potential impacts from invasive species through location‑specific strategies aligned with local regulations and landowner expectations. Pollution‑related impacts may occur from non‑greenhouse gas (GHG) air emissions or unplanned releases of water, chemicals, hydrocarbons or other substances. In addition, our GHG emissions may contribute to the climate change nature impact driver. Read more about our approach to managing climate‑related impacts.

Nature-related risks and opportunities

Nature-related impacts may give rise to physical, policy, legal, technological, market, or reputational risks with the potential to affect our business. Our sustainability risk management processes are designed to identify, assess and manage these risks. Potential risks include restricted access to exploration or lease areas, and constraints on access to essential resources such as water, leading to project delays or disruptions.

Nature-related risks may also affect production techniques, including hydraulic fracturing or limit options for produced water discharge and disposal. Evolving policies and regulations aimed at mitigating nature-related impacts may increase operational and compliance costs, while actions by investors, the financial sector or regulatory bodies may influence our activities through shareholder resolutions or other external expectations.

To date, nature-related risks have not been identified as financially material for the company. Where nature‑related risks are identified as business unit (BU) priorities, we implement mitigation actions. We also seek to create positive outcomes through contributions to conservation. These include opportunities to avoid, reduce or mitigate nature-related impacts or risks. The examples below reflect nature‑related risks and mitigation actions identified over recent years across selected globally operated assets, informed by local environmental, regulatory and operational contexts.

Physical risks  Mitigation actions
Sensitive species, habitats or ecosystems
  • Completing development reviews to assess ecological sensitivity.
  • Conducting wildlife surveys including population monitoring.
  • Integrating Indigenous Peoples priority areas into early-stage development planning.
  • Supporting proactive conservation.
  • Maintaining voluntary conservation agreements. 
Produced water disposal
  • Increasing the use of recycled produced water.
  • Completing produced water disposal capacity study.
  • Planning and coordinating produced water infrastructure.
  • Conducting regional pre-operational seismic screenings or risk assessments.
  • Advancing research into technologies to treat produced water for potential beneficial reuse. 
Policy risks Mitigation actions
Nature-related policy changes and regulations
  • Engaging with organizations developing nature-related frameworks, standards, metrics and targets directly or through Ipieca.
  • Assessing alignment with, and gaps in, voluntary and regulatory nature-related disclosure requirements and recommendations.

State of nature

We assess the condition of ecosystems and biodiversity, as well as their relative sensitivity, across our operated assets. At the BU level, our understanding is informed by habitat and species distribution assessments, wildlife surveys and species monitoring. At the corporate level, we use geospatial indicators to consistently evaluate biodiversity importance and ecosystem integrity across our global operated asset portfolio.

As part of the state of nature assessment, we also identify and evaluate ecosystem services. Our operations rely on water and our facility designs benefit from natural flood and storm mitigation. These are examples of ecosystem services, also called dependencies.