From the Chief Executive
Welcome to BG Group's 2007 Corporate Responsibility Report.
For BG Group, Corporate Responsibility (CR) means putting our Business Principles into practice. The Group's Business Principles are the foundation of our Governance Framework and set out the values and behaviours that guide all areas of the business.
We believe that CR is an essential ingredient in the creation of sustainable value, both for shareholders and for other stakeholders. This Report describes how we seek to create value on an enduring basis by working together with our suppliers, our customers, governments and communities towards shared objectives.
As a natural gas company, BG Group has a role to play in advancing global efforts to combat climate change. The substitution of coal with natural gas – the cleanest of the fossil fuels, with 40% lower carbon dioxide than coal for an equivalent amount of energy – has been cited by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as a key and immediately commercially available measure to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
We are also committed to GHG savings from within our own operations. We have set a target of identifying and carrying out projects that will generate ongoing, sustainable GHG reductions of one million tonnes, compared to a 'no-action' base case, by 2012. As part of this, in 2007 we carried out projects that generated GHG reductions of 221 000 tonnes. One million tonnes represents approximately 8% of forecasted emissions from BG Group operations in 2012.
Safety is a key part of operating responsibly. All of our people, myself included, are expected to take personal accountability for ensuring their own safety and that of others. Our focus on safety has led to a continued enhancement of our safety culture and performance: in 2007 the Group's Lost Time Injury Frequency improved by 28% to 0.26 per million hours worked, our lowest-ever figure.
Our ultimate safety goal remains zero injuries. Everyone working for BG Group has the right to go home safely to his or her family. It is therefore with great regret that I report the deaths of two contractors during 2007: one in a road traffic accident in Kazakhstan and the second working on the construction of one of the Group's new LNG ships in South Korea. In early 2008, shortly after the reporting period, a contractor working on behalf of our Gujarat Gas subsidiary in India died following an incident during streetworks. All three incidents have been investigated to assess any lessons to be learned.
Working to high standards, as set out in our Business Principles, is a key element of our vision for BG Group. Our inclusion in the FTSE4Good index and the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, and particularly our ranking as a "sustainable investing leader" in Goldman Sachs' GS Sustain focus list, reflect recognition of our commitment to working responsibly.
How we operate is as important to us as what we do or the assets we own. It is through the energy of our people that we achieve our goals. I am proud of the commitment, creativity and enthusiasm that our people bring to working responsibly, and I would like to pay tribute to them.
Finally, I would like to thank you for your interest in this report. Our aim is to report fully and transparently, not only on what we do but also on how we do it. If you would like to share with us how far you feel we have achieved this, please email cr@bg-group.com or contact us via the link on our website.
Frank Chapman
Chief Executive