Environment
Importance and Mission
Gulf understands the importance of compliance with relevant laws and regulations as well as responsibility for community, society, and the environment in all operating areas, to reduce both direct and indirect impacts on the environment (inclusive of spillage, climate change, biodiversity, waste, air pollution, and water resources). Gulf will garner stakeholders' trust and embody the values of responsible consumption of natural resources, environmental stewardship, conservation, and sustainable management.
Goals
Achieve Net Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions from inception for E&P business covering scope 1 and scope 2 under Gulf’s operational control.
Achieve zero oil, gas and chemical spill.
Achieve zero total waste to landfill from inception.
No operation in areas at risk from water scarcity and ensure that there is no impact on the community and water users.
No operation in World Heritage sites as defined by UNESCO and achieving “No-Net Loss” (NNL) of biodiversity in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Australia protected areas from inception.
Safeguard ocean biodiversity and ecosystem in all offshore operations from inception.
Adherence to Australian Marine Parks regulations (North Marine Parks Network) and Queensland’s Biodiversity Conservation Strategy.
Nil deforestation from inception of any onshore Gulf activities.
Climate Change Management
Climate Strategy and Targets
Climate change may impact the environment and Gulf’s business, in terms of more frequent natural disasters, more stringent national and international policies and regulations, and the global drive towards a low carbon future.
Gulf will continuously initiate actions to reduce and mitigate risks, including investment in natural gas as a cleaner transition energy through the implementation of industry best practice ways to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Precaution, protection, information and participation are just some of the essential components in the way Gulf understands and will operate to ensure environmental protection. Gulf will champion the efficient use of natural resources for waste management and the protection of protected areas that are important for biodiversity and ecosystems.
Gulf will constantly work to safeguard biodiversity including life below water, with the aim to conserve, preserve and sustain marine resources.
Gulf will achieve Net Zero emissions by using technology, renewables, batteries, and Carbon Capture Usage and Storage (CCUS) and through implementing best operating practices to reduce GHG emissions. High-quality carbon offsets will be used to reduce any residual GHG emissions.
Governments policy support, along with technology advancements, can and will accelerate development and deployment of lower-emission technologies necessary to arrive at a net-zero future. Gulf strongly supports sound government policies like enhanced incentives for carbon capture usage and storage, and hydrogen production.
Gulf supports market-based, technology-neutral policies that recognize the value of addressing full life-cycle emissions versus focusing solely on scope 3 emissions, thereby incentivizing companies to take actions that reduce emissions, while still meeting the world’s demand for essential energy and products.
Gulf will be a Net Zero Scope 1 and 2 equity emissions energy company from first commercial production of natural gas.
The greenhouse gases that are reported under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) scheme include carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) and specified kinds of hydro fluorocarbons and perfluorocarbons.
Climate Risk Management
Gulf will integrate the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) framework into its climate change management. Assessed climate change risks consist of physical risks and transition risks. Physical risks are related to direct impacts such as heat waves, heavy precipitation, tropical storms, drought and water-related risks. Transition risks are related to changes of risks of policy, legal, technology, market, and reputations.
In the assessment of Physical risks, 3 scenarios will be applied as guided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): aggressive mitigation scenario or representative concentration Pathways (RCP 2.6); strong mitigation scenario (RCP 4.5); and Business-as-Usual (BaU) scenario (RCP8.5). The objective is for the results of corporate Physical risk assessments, for all scenarios and time frames, to be no greater than medium level risk.
In the assessment of Transition risks, 3 scenarios will be applied: Stated Policies Scenario (SPS), Sustainable Development Scenario (SDS) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 1.5°C scenario. The first two scenarios are in line with International Energy Agency (IEA)'s impact assessment guidance and the last with IPCC's guidance. The objective is for the results of corporate Transition risk assessments, for all scenarios and time frames, to be no greater than medium level risk.
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Management
Strategy and Targets for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
BIODIVERSITY includes plants, animals and other organisms and is defined in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) as the variability among organisms from all sources including terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; it includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems.
ECOSYSTEM SERVICES are the goods and services that biodiversity provides. They include soil formation, marine and other aquatic ecosystems the provision of food and fibre, air quality and climate regulation, the regulation of water supply and quality and the cultural and aesthetic value of certain plants and species.
Gulf has committed to operating with minimal environmental impacts and will integrate the impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services into the business decision-making process, by means of the promotion of the net positive impact on biodiversity and ecosystem services at all operational areas.
Gulf will engage the expertise of members of the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) who are global experts on best practice for impact assessment to make informed decision-making regarding policies, programs, plans and projects.
The IAIA publishes Best Practice Principles on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Impact Assessment. The Principles apply to all stages and types of impact assessment (IA), whether at project or strategic level, and are intended to underpin efforts to achieve sustainable outcomes for biodiversity, ecosystems, and the services they provide.
The Principles promote biodiversity-inclusive IA that is compatible with the aims and objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Ramsar Convention, and the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS). These require Signatories (“Parties”) to use environmental impact assessment (EIA) for projects and strategic environmental assessment (SEA) for policies, plans, and programs as tools for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and ecosystems and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from their use.
The Principles are intended to align with the performance standards and requirements of international finance institutions that promote integration of conservation needs with development priorities, to protect and conserve biodiversity and ensure that benefits from ecosystem services are maintained.
The Principles
Use IA to maintain and enhance biodiversity, with a goal of no net loss (NNL) outcomes as a minimum and an aspiration for net gain (NG).
Integrate biodiversity and ecosystem services in development planning and IA from the earliest possible stages.
Take an ecosystem perspective to framing of IA, allowing the significance of ecological changes to be assessed at appropriate spatial and temporal scales.
Address the rights, values, dependencies, and benefits that people derive from biodiversity and ecosystems in IA, taking a participatory and transparent approach throughout.
Design IA baseline surveys and assessments to generate the information and understanding needed to support evidence-based approaches to assessment of impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems.
Ensure that implications for biodiversity and ecosystem services are fully addressed using transparent, evidence-based approaches and appropriate expertise.
Apply the Mitigation Hierarchy (MH*), with emphasis on preventive measures and including off sets for residual impacts on biodiversity, ecosystems and the services they provide.
Use precautionary approaches where the consequences of development for biodiversity and ecosystem services are unclear and there is insufficient information to exclude the possibility of unacceptable, irreversible, or non-offsetable impacts.
Establish robust adaptive management systems to ensure that IA commitments will be met, mitigation measures will be implemented and that no net loss/net gain (NNL/NG) outcomes can be demonstrated through monitoring, auditing and reporting.
* MH is a widely used tool that guides users towards limiting as far as possible the negative impacts on biodiversity from development projects.
Gulf has set the following objectives:
No operation in World Heritage sites as defined by UNESCO and achieving “No-Net Loss” (NNL) of biodiversity in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Australia protected areas from inception.
Safeguard ocean biodiversity and ecosystem in all offshore operations from their inception.
No Gross Deforestation for E&P from inception of Gulf’s onshore activities.
To ensure effective achievement on the targets, Gulf will develop a Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (BES) Management Guideline in line with International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA’s) "A Guide to Developing Biodiversity Action Plans for the Oil and Gas Sector" and International Finance Corporation (IFC)'s Performance Standard 6: Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Management of Living Natural Resources. The management guideline will be implemented at all Gulf operational sites, according to the following mitigation hierarchy:
Conduct biodiversity and ecosystem system service risk assessment in different project phases.
Develop Biodiversity Action Plans (BAP) where there are high risks.
Implement Biodiversity Action Plans
Monitor environmental impacts concerning biodiversity and ecosystem services.
Consider biodiversity offsets, where there is a residual impact, to compensate potential loss of biodiversity values in order to achieve no-net loss.