Our environmental policy
We’re committed to reducing our environmental impact and continually improving our environmental performance, and encourage our partners, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders to do the same.
Our Environmental Policy focuses on minimising our impact on the environment, in recognition of the Paris Agreement. This includes limiting the quantities of waste, assessing the environmental consequences of our operations on the local environment and operating in a safe manner.
All our employees have a responsibility to ensure that the aims and objectives of the policy are met, and our country Managing Directors are responsible for overseeing its implementation.
We’re committed to developing and implementing an environmental management system (EMS) throughout the Group to measure, control and, where practical, reduce our environmental impacts and are working towards securing ISO 14001 (Environmental Management) and ISO 45001 (Occupational Health and Safety) for the Group.
A number of our operating units have already secured ISO certifications and we are working towards certification across all our operating units. We also believe that achieving these ISO standards at Group level will be an important tool to support continual improvement in our Environmental Management and HSSE systems, and comply with our environmental legal requirements, to meet and exceed the expectations of our stakeholders.
ROAD TRANSPORT EFFICIENCY
Distribution of our product from our depots to service stations and commercial customers is an integral part of our business.
Our in-country teams are responsible for managing third party road transport contractors involved in moving product. They develop journey management plans to ensure risks are minimised in order to ensure safe transport. Additionally, with the help of our new ERP and depot automation systems, they have focused on increasing the volume of product carried per load by using larger trucks and optimising road transport schedules to improve drop efficiencies, supporting our aim to reduce our carbon footprint.
We’re developing Trans-African contracts to reduce the number of road transport contractors across the Group, and ensure that we only use contractors with the highest HSSE standards and performance.
We’ve also introduced a maximum age limit of 10 years on road transport contractors’ heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) to encourage the use of newer, more efficient vehicles.
Where possible we are shifting the transport of product from road to rail, as well as increasing our use of pipelines, to reduce the total road transport kilometres driven. This has been particularly effective in Uganda where road transport has been reduced by approximately 50%.
PRODUCT EFFICIENCY
In most of our markets, the importation of petroleum products is controlled and regulated by the government or national oil company, supported by appropriate product specifications, which balance environmental improvements with affordability.
In order to mitigate some of the impact of increased fuel use on the environment we continue to launch Shell’s latest fuel, which contains DYNAFLEX technology, in our Shell-branded markets. This new formulation helps clean and protect key components in vehicle engines, leading to better engine efficiency, reduced fuel consumption and therefore reduced emissions.
We also market Shell FuelSave, which has been designed to improve combustion, boosting efficiency and saving fuel in those countries. Shell Helix Ultra with PUREPLUS technology in our lubricants range is made from base oil created from natural gas with virtually none of the impurities found in crude oil.
In our marine operations global sulphur limits for marine bunker fuel were lowered from 3.5% to 0.5% at the start of 2020. We support the reduction in air pollution from ships that the global sulphur cap brings, and continue to work with our marine customers to supply safe and fully compliant marine fuels. In Cape Verde and Mauritius we worked closely with the port authorities and governments to ensure that pipes and tanks were cleaned and prepared, in readiness for these International Maritime Organisation (IMO) regulations.
SITE EFFICIENCY
We’ve continued our programme to maximise site efficiency by reducing energy consumption. For example, we’ve installed energy efficient chillers, LED illumination and under canopy motion detection systems, improved heating and air conditioning systems, more energy efficient building insulation and double‑glazing.
In addition, we’ve continued to roll out renewable energy solutions at our operations, adding solar panels at our service stations, depots and offices.
Finally, we plan for newly built service stations and rebuilt sites across our network to include solar panels.
- Maximum age limit on our road transport contractors’ heavy goods vehicles
- 50% reduction in road transport of our products in Uganda achieved by moving from road to rail and pipeline
- Newly built service stations to include solar panels
- Rolling out the latest formulation of Shell-branded fuels in those markets
- Maximising the efficiency of our service stations, depots and offices
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
We’re committed to reducing our environmental impact and continually improving our environmental performance as an integral part of our business strategy and operating methods. To meet this commitment, we’ve adopted various Greenhouse Gas (GHG) reduction methodologies, including energy efficiency initiatives at our sites and monitoring energy usage at Group level on a monthly basis. We’ve also introduced strict controls on business travel to further reduce our carbon footprint.
We adhere to the UK Government Environmental Reporting Guidelines and the UK Government Greenhouse Gas Conversion Factors. These are the methodologies used to calculate our GHG emissions. Following the completion of the Engen transaction in March 2019, we have included their contribution into our Group emission figures.
For the year ending 31 December 2019, our combined GHG emissions from our 23 Shell and Engen‑branded operating units were:
Kilotonnes of CO2 equivalent 2019 |
|
---|---|
Emissions from combustion of fuel (Scope 1) | 67.32 |
Emissions from electricity, heat, steam and cooling (Scope 2) | 8.02 |
Total Scope 1 & 2 emissions | 75.34 |
Emissions intensity ratio (KT CO2e/10k m3) | 0.07232 |
This figure includes emissions of CO2 equivalent (CO2e) for which the Company is responsible, including both combustion of fuel and the operation of our facilities (including the purchase of electricity, heat and cooling), as far as it has been possible for us to obtain. We have not included emissions from our central offices located outside of our operating units as these are small, shared office spaces, without accurate information and responsible for minimal emissions.
We’ve reduced our GHG emissions in the Shell‑branded markets by assessing and prioritising the energy consumption and efficiency of both existing and new operations, sites and products across all stages – operational, development, design and purchasing. This is supported by utilising renewable technologies where possible. We’re also exploring how we can offer increased value to our customers by providing renewable energy value propositions and credible carbon offsets to minimise our carbon footprint.
We continuously monitor the potential and longer-term impact that climate change may have on our business model and strategy. We are aware of our environmental impact and we are committed to making our operations as efficient as possible. We have a range of initiatives underway in order to limit our environmental impact.