Sustainability@BHP Billiton
- Ian Wood
Vice President Sustainable Development and Community Relations
For BHP Billiton our commitment to sustainable development is directly aligned with our corporate strategy — it is about ensuring our business remains viable and contributes lasting benefits to society through the consideration of social, environmental, ethical and economic aspects in all that we do.
This year we continued to broaden our understanding of sustainable development and the intrinsic link with long-term business viability.
We remain committed to disclosing our performance, and our Report continues to be prepared in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Guidelines. This year we have further enhanced our disclosure by reporting against draft G3 GRI protocols.
We have also maintained our commitment to a number of externally developed voluntary initiatives, and this year we report for the first time our contribution to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). While ensuring and reporting progress on these goals is primarily the responsibility of governments, we feel that the MDGs provide a useful organising structure within which to report our contribution to addressing the environmental and social challenges facing developing countries.
As a global mining company we face a number of key sustainability challenges that we believe may have a material impact on our ability to maintain our license to operate and thus be a successful business. Preventing fatal risks, climate change, occupational and community health, access to and management of resources, community development, and site closure continue to focus our attention, as does access to water and skills.
Our stewardship approach continues to gain momentum as we expand activities across our commodity range and strengthen our supply chain partnerships. Our approach encompasses research and development in materials and process stewardship technology, marketing and advocacy throughout the supply chain. Our involvement in the Council for Responsible Jewellery Practices, the World Nuclear Association and the Responsible Mining Assurance Initiative are key examples of our commitment to work with others towards enhanced stewardship in our industry.
With the acquisition of the WMC business in 2005, including the Olympic Dam copper and uranium mine, we recognise that we need to respond to stakeholder concerns regarding uranium management. While we acknowledge that some of our stakeholders don’t welcome the addition of this commodity to our business, we have made a commitment to work with others involved in the nuclear power life cycle to ensure the safe production and secure distribution of this resource. This Report details our approach to uranium stewardship.
Interaction with all our stakeholders is a critical element in our ability to learn and evolve our approach, and each year we conduct formal dialogue sessions with a broad range of stakeholders on topics of strong interest for a broad cross-section of stakeholders. In 2006 the sessions focused on biodiversity and uranium and provided not only useful feedback on our approach but an opportunity to tap into ideas and to test concepts. We also continue to engage with our Forum on Corporate Responsibility, with our discussions in 2006 including the Company’s approach to uranium stewardship, climate change and energy efficiency and community programs in countries such as India and Colombia. The Forum also reviewed our approach to identifying and managing our key sustainability challenges.
Our Sustainability Committee of the Board continues to operate as the peak sustainability governance body for the Company, ensuring consideration of sustainability issues at the highest level in the Company.
BHP Billiton is committed to transparent disclosure of our sustainability performance, and this Report is our primary mechanism for doing so. We are committed to the continuous improvement of our efforts to report our performance and greatly appreciate feedback from our stakeholders.
Ian Wood
Vice President Sustainable Development and Community Relations
