Shell Company's Efforts, Actions, and Initiatives Regarding Sustainability - Assignment Example

? [SHELL] “Shell company’s efforts, actions and initiatives regarding sustainability” Thecompany that has been chosen is Shell Limited. It is an international organization, that has been functioning well despite facing a huge number of lawsuits and allegations, their profits have not dwindled. They are a chain of petrochemical businesses. Their main aim is to look for ways and as well as provide fuel in an economically, socially and as well as environmentally beneficial way. Their main focus is to provide their stakeholders with the sustainable growth and make their shareholders happy. They have divided their whole work strategy into two directions, Up-stream and down-stream. In the Upstream strategy they are actually looking forward to discover newer oilfields and at the same time also working on the existing methods to increase efficiency and productivity. In the downstream strategy they invest the earnings to earn financial gains. They focus on providing the supply to the demands of the energy of the world and that to in an environmentally friendly way and at the same time focus on sustainable development. ROYAL Dutch Shell plc commonly known as “SHELL” is a multinational BRITISH-DUTCH oil and gas company. Its headquarter is situated in THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS and a registered office in LONDON, UK. SHELL is amongst one of the leading company in the field of oil and gas industry; indulge itself not only in the production and refineries of petroleum products but also paved its way in the major energy products like “bio fuel, hydrogen and power generation”. SHELL is keen in fulfilling and guaranteeing energy needs of people in ways that are highly economical, environmental and social responsible. Owing to the future challenges and threats regarding our energy demands, environment and its safety such as “increasing population and rising urbanization” will hit our energy sources hardly and will eventually bring us to the verge of shortage of energy sources, according to an estimation that our world’s population will reach to 9 billion by 2050 which means that many people will fall in the hands of energy poverty. Also it was estimated by INTERNATIONAL ENERGY AGENCY that $38 trillion will be required for infrastructure to meet energy demands by 2035, beside these GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE is a great threat. As a result SHELL has molded its approach in accordance with these challenges in order to neutralize energy needs and energy sources, framed its policies and strategies under thorough case examinations of challenges in a very effective and righteous manner, reach to the conclusion in which they prioritized “SUSTAINABILITY” above all. Thus the energy sources that SHELL provides must be able to face these global challenges and threats which will lead towards building a “SUSTAINABLE ENERGY FUTURE”. In the words of PETER VOSER, CEO, SHELL: “with tough economic conditions prevailing, and momentous social change taking place in some countries, the world must not lose sight of longer-term challenges.” SHELL considers the two most dominating factors in putting a fight against these challenges. 1st is the GREEN HOUSE REGULATION.2nd is the development of sustainable urban cities i-e, smarter cities. These two factors effects the growing energy need to the extent of much reduction in energy demands as these smarter cities will set independency in the transport, energy systems etc. As a matter of fact that SUSTAINABILITY development is a basic need of today’s era. All of sustainable developments and standards are framed by “HEALTHY, SAFETY, SECURITY, ENVIRONMENT and SOCIAL PERFORMANCE (HSSP & SP). It governs all the related issues. It sets basic priorities, rules, regulations and all concerns bodies ought to abide by them. The CEO chairs the (HSSP & SP) and accesses management of sustainability development. These policies and performances are thoroughly inspected with respect to the SHELL general business principles and (HSSP & SP) standards by the “CORPORATE AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILTY COMMITTEE (CSRC) of the board of Royal Dutch Shell, their members hold meet ups with common people to get feedback about operations and performances on regular basis. In addition to this they also accessed SHELL SUSTAINABILITY report. SHELL has invested heavily on “research and development (R&D). According to the SUSTAINABLE REPORT 20011, SHELL’S net capital investment is $30 billion 80% of which is associated with research, exploration and development of oil and gas. SHELL invested $1.1 billion on R&D. Beside this they also spent $2.3 billion on alternative energies’ R&D. it is expected that based on some of the new projects SHELL will increase its production capability to more than 4 million barrels equivalent a day (Frynas, 2009). Beside this SHELL is very much focused on the way of exploring and producing more and more fossil fuels that emits 50% less carbon dioxide gas (CO2) as compared to coal in generating electricity. Through the RAIZEN joint venture we are producing lowest bio fuel ever. In order to reduce green house emissions, SHELL is looking towards the production of cleaner burning natural gas which helps to capture and store carbon and this is really a great success. SHELL is also keen to increase efficiency of their operations and to reduce their carbon emissions too. SHELL shares an important collaborating hand with different environmental organizations of the world such as IUCN (international union for conservation of nature) and with different governing bodies, sharing views and conveying both sided cooperation in order to facilitate themselves to face the challenges of this challenging era. SHELL with IUCN, understood the needs that our environments require which helped SHELL to better framed its strategy. With governments SHELL conveyed the message to raise prices of carbon incorporated things such as vehicles in order to reduce drastic effects, in addition to this, Governments are encouraged and suggested to promote and invest in environmental friendly vehicles etc. In the report the discussion will be about the sustainable practices that are being followed by Shell. The report then further analyses the postulates in the policy and critically analyze it and as well as provide relevant recommendations that will help improve the system and create improvement as well. It also focuses on the corporate social responsibilities that are also a part of their weekly schedule. international bodies, Shell has strict compliance system and they try to follow all the rules and regulations that have been set by the bodies to be able to achieve sustainability.They are operating in more than 80 countries with around 90,000 employees stationed worldwide. Shell has focused on a few aspects of the environment related factors like, biodiversity, climate change that has been occurring, oil spills, and water sources. Shell has great interest in biodiversity as they feel that the rapid increase in the human population has led to unaccounted decline in the species of plants and animals worldwide. According to the recent reports 17000 species of plants and animals have become in danger and are on the verge of extinction it has also been mentioned in the sustainability report around 20 % of the tropical forest as well as around 50 % of the wet lands have been destroyed completely . Shell has been trying to achieve a balance between the development and the conservation of nature it is a matter of business sense for the shell corporation whenever a new project is been initiated a score of studies are conducted before hand to aces the impact that the new site will have on the biodiversity of the area .Once a new project is started the developed plans help the company design and define targets ,specific actions that are required to ensure maintenance of sustainable developments (Lambooy, 2010).  Stakeholders are a very important part of any organization; they play a very important part in any organization. In this assignment we will look for the stakeholder of any Multinational companies, we will identify the part they play in making any company a success, we will also look at how a company can function such that it meets the needs of its stakeholder and at the same time maintain a quality standard. We will also look at the factors that affect the quality of the product that the company produces and how it can be further improved upon. Since, the only thing that is constant is change, therefore how to bring about a constant change that will keep the stakeholder happy and will also benefit the accounts of the company Shell has also been focusing on increased usage of natural gas for the generation of electricity. This has helped them greatly in reaching the targets related to reduction of carbon emission. It has been observed that the use of natural gas for power productionemits nearly half amount of carbon dioxide that would have otherwise been produced if coal was being used. Shell has been making efforts to discover new sources of natural gas for the purpose of electricity generation. Shell is working to develop ways that will help them capture an store the carbon dioxide that is produced during the burning of fossil fuels. They belief that this capturing of carbon dioxide will help prevent some kind of serious climate change. Despite being a major fuel based organization. Shell encourages its customers to become fuel efficient and use energy in a more effective and efficient way. The company has been working tirelesslyto contribute actively and effectively to curve the emissions that result in cleaner and better air. Also, they have been working to provide consumers with cleaner and more efficient fuels. Shell has also reduced its carbon dioxide’s emission to seventy two million tons .There is an excellent initiative that has been taken by shell in Oman where they are working to clean up contaminated water by using reed beds this is a social and sustainable development project that has been taken up by shell Menon, 1992).  Recently there has been quite an increase in the waste that is created by Shell by 24%. This was found as the case despite the fact they have made really tall claims with relation to the waste disposal. It is highly recommended that they should establish a stable plan so as to reduce the waste that they have been producing. Also despite the fact that they are considering a number of options to build sustainability, it is important that they should first look into immediate issues that are occurring due to exploitation of oil that they have been doing. They have to look for and develop ways that can help them create newer methods to control the oil spills. There have been many instances when there have been serious losses that have occurred due to oil spills in oceans. They should also try to develop areas in which they are functioning as this will help them give back t the society that they are taking from. It has not been the case in case of Nigeria, it is highly advisable that they should establish better way to deal with similar controversies and also function in a way that does not actually harm the surrounding areas (Tulder, Zwart, 2006).  They should create an advisory board so that the recent issues that are being faced on the environmental fronts is discussed and catered to. As concluding words, its not only about SHELL or any other particular organization/body to think of future challenges and act accordingly. Its responsibility lies on all of us, from an individual to as a whole, each has its own role to play, need to understand our environment is must. We have to collaborate and build stronger relationships with each other in such a way that sustainable, sound and healthy environment is guaranteed. References Copp, T., Humphries, M. O., Canadian Defence Academy., & Canada. (2010). Combat stress in the 20th century: The Commonwealth perspective. Kingston, Ont: Canadian Defence Academy Press. Tulder, R. ., & Zwart, A. . (2006). International business-society management: Linking corporate responsibility and globalization. London: Routledge. Frynas, J. G. (2009). Beyond corporate social responsibility: Oil, multinationals and social challenges. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kakabadse, A., & Morsing, M. (2006). Corporate social responsibility: Reconciling aspiration with application. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Boasson, E. L., & Wettestad, J. (2007). Standardized CSR and climate performance: Why is Shell willing, but Hydro reluctant?. Lysaker: Fridtjof Nansen Institute. Menon, J. (1992). Constructive shell representations for free-form surfaces and solids. Yorktown Heights, N.Y: IBM T.J. Watson Research Center Marshall Cavendish Editions. (2009). CSR for sustainability and success: Corporate social responsibility in Singapore. Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Editions. Shell Company of Australia., & CSR Limited. (1989). Dragline loading into hopper/crusher/conveyor system for prestripping. Canberra, ACT: Dept. of Primary Industries and Energy. Lambooy, T. E. (2010). Corporate social responsibility legal and semi-legal frameworks supporting CSR. Deventer: Kluwer. Barth, R., & Wolff, F. (2009). Corporate social responsibility in Europe: Rhetoric and realities. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. Read More