Environmental Sustainability Policy For BHP Billiton Company In Australia

Policy Overview

This environmental sustainability policy is developed for BHP Billiton Company, hereafter referred to as BHP. It is the biggest mining company operating not just in Australia but also many other countries across the world. Besides mining, BHP has other business interests in the oil and gas, manufacturing of steel and copper, the construction and engineering sector as well as the transport sector. It has its Australia headquarters in Melbourne, Victoria. In the United Kingdom, it has its headquarters in London (BHP, 2018).

In Australia, it has major operations in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and many areas in Western Australia. Cumulatively, the company has 60,000 employees with 27,600 of those being Australian citizens (BHP, 2018). Its customers include government corporations, private businesses, private developers and Non-governmental organizations. Its suppliers include contractors and subcontractors, private businesses and individual consultants (Epstein, 2018).

Policy Name: Environmental Sustainability Policy (Applicable to Australia Operations only)

Effective from: November 1, 2018

To be reviewed: November 1, 2022

Approved by: The Director of Environmental Operations

Policy version: 1.0

This policy will cover all BHP operations in Australian territories. It will be implemented in the oil and gas operations in Western Australia and Victoria. It also covers all the company manufacturing operations in steel, copper and nickel plants. The policy will be implemented by the company operations management, the environmental director, all company employees in the operations and environmental departments, the contractors and subcontractors engaged by the company, and all stakeholders accessing the company premises.

This policy shows that BHP Company has a commitment to protecting and conserving the environment. It aligns with the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act -EPBC (1999). It is also inspired by the Direct Action Plan with a focus on emission reduction. The policy ascribes to Australia’s National Waste policy of 2009 that advocates for the reduction of waste to maximize resources. Moreover, the BHP policy shows the company commitment to the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act of 2007 in line with our oil and gas operations (BHP, 2018).

Internationally, the policy demonstrates our resolve to conserve the environment and reduce emissions by incorporating recommendations of the Paris Agreement particularly on greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, the Policy shows our resolve to engage our stakeholders and the larger community in environmental protection by adopting the Millennium Development Goal number 7 on environmental sustainability by preventing resources depletion. Finally, the policy champions efficient resource utilization as endeavored by the Brundtland report on environment and development (Jameson, 2013).

Policy Objectives

BHP is a global company that is committed to improving and sustaining the livelihoods of millions of people by providing them with energy resources, building and construction materials, and providing efficient transportation. The company is able to achieve these commitments by adhering to the collective international bill on human rights, fair work practices and respect for the environment.

In the course of its operations, BHP recognizes the role of the environment in bringing sustenance to both people and biodiversity. The company acknowledges that its operations may bring adverse impacts to the environment. The company, therefore, is committed to doing all in its power to address the adversities in its areas of operations in Australia.

The Company, in its support to the Stockholm Declaration on environment and development, seeks to lead its employees, suppliers and other stakeholders in activities that uphold Environmental Sustainability by:

1. i) Continuously improving its practices in mining and manufacturing to conform to environmental best practices such as adopting green energy;
2. ii) Integrating environmental targets in its operations and communicating with the employees, customers, and suppliers in ensuring that the company reduces resource utilization and minimizes environmental adversities;

iii) Accommodating the principles of Environmental Sustainability such as the 3R (Reduce, Re-use and Recycle) principles in its processes (Griggs et al., 2013).  Also creating awareness amongst the local communities in Australia and its stakeholders in its resolve to environmental protection;

1. iv) Continuous innovations in practices that meet and exceed the local legislation on environmental sustainability
2. v) Incorporating eco-friendly practices that ensure biodiversity protection, effective waste management practices and greenhouse gas reduction in its activities.

BHP recognizes that its environmental sustainability practices play a small part in the wider goal of achieving sustainable development and therefore seeks to engage the local communities, the government, and the Non-governmental organizations in contributing to better mechanisms of addressing environmental sustainability (Banarjee, 2011; Haugh & Talwar, 2010).

BHP will adhere to the following procedures in achieving its policy objectives

1. The BHP waste management procedure- in this procedure, the company will reduce its waste by adopting a cradle to grave approach on waste management. In this approach waste materials from one process become raw materials for another process.
2. The BHP Green Program – This procedure advocates for using organic material for packaging because they are biodegradable. It also advocates for use of green energy such as solar power and wind energy.
3. The BHP biodiversity procedure the company will repatriate the environment it has operated on to ensure it resumes to its pristine nature;
4. The BHP afforestation procedures- the company will participate in tree planting activities to increase forest cover.

1. The company will reduce utilizing energy resources by encouraging staff to walk or cycle short distances instead of using vehicles.
2. In cases where meetings are in different locations, the employees will use teleconference options
3. The company will recycle its waste to prevent pollution and to minimize resource utilization

1. All our subcontractors and new staff will be trained on the BHP policy implementation to ensure they adhere to its practices;
2. All our suppliers will be required to conform to our environmental standards when making their supplies;
3. All our equipment will be meet the environmental standards and the required carbon emission standards set by the Government;
4. The company will adhere to the ISO 14001:2015 standards in its operations to ensure efficient resource utilization.

This Environmental Sustainability Policy will be implemented by the following various groups in the company.

Director of Environment

Chief Executive Officer BHP

Environmental Sustainability Committee

All the BHP company staff with environmental roles

The operations managers

The company supervisors

Company Employees

Occupational Health and Safety Heads

BHP Environmental division

The Stockholm Declaration was a pact reached after the United Nations Conference on Environment and development in 1972 to ensure that present generations use environmental resources sustainably so as not to deny the future generations the ability to meet their needs. The Brundtland report was enacted after the same meeting under the report “Our common future” (Jameson, 2013).

The Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act of 1999

The Clean Energy Act of 1970

The National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act of 2007

The Clean Energy Regulations of 2011

On likely effectiveness, the policy will address inefficiencies by involving all the company employees, suppliers, and subcontractors. The policy procedure and processes will be displayed in all areas of the company operations (Schlarman, n.d.)

Stakeholder Engagement

On time frames, the policy will address inefficiencies by limiting the implementation to four years. After four years the policy will be reviewed to address any objectives that were not met (Weinreb, 2011).

On cost constraints, the policy will initiate a cost-benefit analysis whereby the gains will be gauged against the cost of implementing the policy. The costs will balance out and lead to more benefits from a reduction in operating costs and raw material costs since recycling will be part of the policy processes (Porter & Kramer, 2009).

The Environmental sustainability policy will be implemented alongside existing organizational policies such as the diversity and OHS policies by incorporating those policies into the environmental sustainability policy. The committee members will be drawn from the existing committee overseeing other policies.

The relevant sustainability principles and practices to the industry include; reduce, re-use and recycle principle, the green energy principle and the effective utilization of resources all should help BHP to reduce operating cost and safeguard the environment (Weinreb, 2011).

The industry best practices include carbon credit trade, efficient machinery with low carbon emissions and use of green energy. Inefficiencies resulting from the company machinery will be addressed by sourcing for suppliers who meet the industry threshold (Haugh & Talwar, 2010).

Available tools and techniques of sustainability management include Greenhouse and energy reporting techniques, carbon credit and the ISO 140001:2015 standards on the environment which incorporates the best practices into the policy.

The company will incorporate an innovative approach to the practices and processes it employs to ensure continuous improvement. It will also benchmark against best practices in the industry to improve on inefficiencies.

Conclusion

The report delves on sustainability policy implementation in a company. The sustainability adopted is streamlined to BHP, a multinational with interests in mining, manufacturing, transport and engineering businesses. The report looks at the benefits of having the policy at BHP and then incorporates the company operations into the policy. The policy describes the people who will implement it, how long it will be in operation and when to review it.

References

Banerjee, S. B. (2011). Embedding Sustainability Across the Organization: A Critical Perspective. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 10(4), 719–731.

BHP. (2018). A leading global resources company. Retrieved November 1, 2018, from https://www.bhp.com/

Epstein, M. J. (2018). Making Sustainability Work?: Best Practices in Managing and Measuring Corporate Social, Environmental and Economic Impacts. New York: Routledge.

Griggs, D., Stafford-Smith, M., Gaffney, O., Rockström, J., Öhman, M. C., Shyamsundar, P., … Noble, I. (2013). Policy: Sustainable development goals for people and planet. Nature, 495, 305–307.

Haugh, H. M., & Talwar, A. (2010). How Do Corporations Embed Sustainability Across the Organization? Academy of Management Learning & Education, 9(3), 384–396.

Jameson, C. M. (2013). Silent Spring Revisited. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

Porter, M. E., & Kramer, M. R. (2009). Strategy and Society: The Link Between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility. Harvard Business Review, 78–92.

Schlarman, S. (n.d.). Developing Effective Policy, Procedures and Standards. Retrieved October 31, 2018, from https://www.disaster-resource.com/articles/07p_106.shtml

Weinreb, E. (2011). 10 Communication Strategies to Engage Employees in Sustainability. Retrieved November 1, 2018, from https://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2011/10/12/10-communication-strategies-engage-employees-sustainability