What impact has the company experienced since expanding its equal employment protections to include sexual orientation and gender identity in early 2015? ExxonMobil’s global policies have always prohibited all forms of discrimination in any company workplace, anywhere in the world. In the United States, ExxonMobil’s equal employment opportunity and harassment in the workplace policies were updated last year to explicitly include sexual orientation and gender identity, which is consistent with ExxonMobil’s long- standing practice of listing enumerated protected classes as defined by federal law. ExxonMobil supports a work environment that values diversity and inclusion, and has numerous inclusive programs and policies that help make ExxonMobil a great place to work. These include support for employee networks that foster a work environment committed to diversity and inclusion, such as People for Respect, Inclusion and Diversity of Employees (PRIDE), which supports lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees. Following the incident at the Torrance refinery, what measures has the company taken to address the potential for similar safety incidents at its other refineries? We deeply regret the incident. Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt. ExxonMobil takes all incidents seriously and is committed to learning from them and taking steps to prevent a recurrence. In addition to cooperating with all agencies investigating the incident, we have conducted our own, separate internal investigation led by a team of subject matter experts from across the corporation. The team spent several months on site interviewing witnesses, reviewing documents, inspecting equipment and preparing a comprehensive report that identified the direct cause of the incident, and made recommendations to prevent a recurrence. We are imple- menting the recommended changes in operating procedures, monitoring equipment and training at ExxonMobil refineries, and will share what we’ve learned with the refining industry.
structures required to recover oil and gas resources by drilling multiple, long-reach wells from the same location, which helps to reduce both underwater noise and our environmental footprint. We also use special earthquake- and frost-resistant pipelines in some northern areas. ExxonMobil developed the industry’s only dedicated, in-house Arctic research program more than 40 years ago. Continued Arctic technology development has allowed us to design, build and operate gravity-based platforms capable of withstanding 6-million-ton icebergs in the North Atlantic and operating year-round in ice-covered waters offshore Sakhalin Island in Russia. Additionally, we piloted and enhanced technologies in 2015 to monitor local wildlife and improve our environmental performance on Alaska’s North Slope. State-of-the-art technologies, including satellite-based remote sensing technology, ground surveillance radar and unmanned aerial systems, help us to monitor local wildlife near our operations and reduce our environmental impact. For more information about our technological innovations in Arctic wildlife protection, see the case study on page 56.
Since 2000, we have spent nearly $7 billion on technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including on energy efficiency, cogeneration, flare reduction, carbon capture and sequestration, and research on lower-emission energy solutions. This includes investments of more than $3.8 billion since 2000 to address energy efficiency and flare mitigation at our Upstream facilities around the world. Additionally, since 2001, more than $2 billion has been invested in our Upstream and Downstream cogeneration facilities to more efficiently produce electricity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions at our manufacturing sites. We are proud of the progress we’ve made, and we recognize the importance of continuing our research and development to help further expand the understanding of climate science. Our efforts have enabled us to take meaningful action to mitigate the risks of climate change, and we will continue to build on this foundation as we work with governments and stakeholders to further address the issue. Increasingly, a number of oil and gas companies are terminating their exploration activities in the Arctic. Does ExxonMobil still believe Arctic development is financially and environmentally viable? The Arctic represents the world’s largest remaining region of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources. While developing these resources presents a variety of challenges, ExxonMobil has a strong portfolio of assets and opportu- nities in a range of Arctic environments. The company has operated in the region for nearly a century. We began by gaining a scientific understanding of the environment. Design and operational plans in Arctic locales, similar to everywhere we operate, are founded on our commitment to operating in an environmentally responsible and sustainable way. For example, our extended-reach drilling technologies have allowed for field development from land by drilling horizontally under the sea. This approach reduces the number of offshore
How does ExxonMobil manage the risks associated with operating in water-stressed areas?
We have a systematic process for assessing and managing the risks of our operations wherever we operate, and this includes, for example, how we manage water. This process includes a reassessment over the life of the project to identify changes in operations or environmental conditions. Our operations use alternative water sources, where appropriate, and seek opportunities to reduce, reuse and recycle water. We consider multiple factors in determining the right approach for a given process or site, including costs, varied operational efficiencies, increased energy use or the consequences of producing more concentrated waste streams. Together, these factors help us determine site-specific approaches, which vary from site to site due to local conditions and availability.
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ExxonMobil’s key sustainability issues and challenges
exxonmobil.com/citizenship
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