Our Approach To Sustainability
For BHP Billiton, sustainable development 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.
Working through complex operational issues associated with our operations has highlighted environmental and social performance as a critical success factor for the Company. We are well aware of the costs of getting it wrong; but more importantly, we recognise the value that can be created by getting it right. Consequently, we adopt a holistic approach to business strategy, seeking to realise value for our stakeholders through a sustainable business philosophy.
Line managers have ultimate accountability for ensuring our businesses contribute to sustainable development and move towards our aspirational goal of Zero Harm. This is implemented through a number of processes, such as our HSEC Management Standards and our Code of Business Conduct.
Our Vision
Our vision for sustainable development is to be the company of choice — creating sustainable value for shareholders, employees, contractors, suppliers, customers, business partners and host communities. Central to our vision is our aspirational goal of Zero Harm to people, our host communities and the environment.
Zero Harm means:
- We aspire to create a workplace that is injury, illness and incident free. We seek to adopt a precautionary approach to minimise and, where possible, eliminate our environmental impacts over time.
Company of choice means:
- Being selected by shareholders as a valued investment, based on strong financial performance and sound governance processes.
- Being preferred by employees for providing a safe, healthy and equitable workplace and caring about the communities in which we live.
- Being preferred by the communities in which we operate for our contribution to sustainable community wellbeing.
- Being preferred by our business partners — customers, suppliers, contractors, governments and joint venture partners — as a committed and reliable partner in delivering sustainable value.
Our emphasis on sustainable value means we have the willingness to invest for the future while ensuring we deliver value in the shorter term.
Our Strategy
BHP Billiton is the world's largest diversified resources company. Our aim is to be diversified in terms of our markets and countries of operation, and this enhances the stability of our cash flows and capacity to invest and grow throughout the business and commodity price cycles. This stability also enables us to take a longer-term, precautionary approach to all aspects of our business, including financial, social and environmental perspectives, improving our ability to deliver value for all our key stakeholders.
Our sustainable development strategy comprises two dimensions – the business dimension and the sustainability dimension – that together contribute to bottom-line performance.
Business Dimension
The business dimension represents traditional contributors to a financially successful and competitive business, recognising that without a profitable business we are unable to contribute to the broader goals of sustainability. This dimension includes:
- Business excellence and customer focus.
- Portfolio diversity.
- Deep inventory of growth projects across all Customer Sector Groups, including greenfield and brownfield projects, as well as appropriate merger and acquisition activities.
- Quality, long-life assets.
Sustainability Dimension
Our bottom line performance is, however, dependent upon ensuring access to resources and gaining and maintaining a licence to operate and grow. Maximising bottom line performance is about recognising the value protection and value add to be achieved through performance in non-financial dimensions - or sustainability dimensions, such as:
- Aspiring towards Zero Harm to people, our host communities and the environment.
- Ensuring effective governance and risk management processes are in place to ensure a precautionary approach is taken to achieving business outcomes.
- Recognising the need to be socially responsible and contribute to sustainable community development.
- Ensuring broader economic contributions in the regions where we operate.
Working with business partners
Our Sustainable Development Vision and Strategy are underpinned by our Sustainable Development Policy and HSEC Management Standards, which are applied to BHP Billiton sites and operations throughout the world. These include:
- Majority owned and/or operated and controlled facilities and activities (from exploration and planning through to closure and rehabilitation).
- Development projects, mergers, acquisitions and divestments.
- Activities by contractors on BHP Billiton sites or under BHP Billiton management (including construction activities prior to hand-over).
Where BHP Billiton does not have operational responsibility but has an equity stake, or where significant BHP Billiton assets are involved, we make all reasonable efforts to promote our approach and make our HSEC Management Standards available to the operator, so that comparable HSEC Management Standards may be applied. The resolution of conflicts presented by the implementation of these Standards must be consistent with the principles of the BHP Billiton Charter.
