As part of their commitment to contribute to sustainable development, Shell companies undertake to benefit communities and work with stakeholders. |
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For Shell Chemicals, the main point of contact with communities is at the chemicals manufacturing sites, where there are also some of the greatest opportunities to work directly with external stakeholders.
Our manufacturing sites contribute positively but, as large-scale industrial operations, can also impact negatively on the communities around them. The companies operating the sites contribute to the local economy by employing local people and paying taxes, but at the same time the facilities create emissions and emit noise and light, which can impact neighbouring communities.
Local people, and those who represent them such as government officials and local authorities, have a right to know what is happening at our sites. We involve them and work with them in a number of different ways to ensure that we incorporate their opinions into the way we do business.
Assessing our community performance
Community surveys are an important way of finding out what a local community is interested in or concerned about. We are carrying out regular community surveys at all major sites with a fence line community, using a common framework so that results can be compared over time and progress demonstrated for each facility individually.
All major facilities have already carried out a community survey using the new framework, allowing them to identify areas of the greatest concern to their communities, to understand how the communities rate their performance, and to act upon the findings. By repeating the survey in two or three years time, they hope to demonstrate improved community performance.
SD goal: over the 2002 to 2007 period, achieve more favourable results in local community surveys for all major manufacturing sites.
How are we improving our social performance?
A variety of actions are being taken at the chemicals manufacturing locations to further improve our social performance and deliver on our commitment to being a good neighbour:
- Social performance planning: managing relationships with members of the communities surrounding the manufacturing sites is a fundamental part of doing business and of maintaining public support for our licence to operate. Since 2003, Shell chemicals companies have been drawing on Social Performance Plans to determine how to work effectively with local stakeholders.
- Community Advisory Panels operate at all of our sites with a fence line community. They enable local people, sometimes including local government, to come together in constructive dialogue about operational activities.
- Community partnerships can be set up when the local community has particular points of concern and would like to partner with the manufacturing facility to work together to resolve the issue. For example, at Norco in Louisiana an air quality partnership was set up with key external stakeholders to address this particular area of concern. The programme’s design has been open to verification by community members, local government officials and environmental groups, resulting in a stronger and more effective programme.
