Sinopec Petroleum and Chemical Company is an international integrated energy and chemicals company based in China. Its operations consist of exploration of oil and gas, development, production and refining of crude oil and natural gas, transport and marketing of the products. The Sinopec Company joined the Un Global Compact in May 22, 2004, participating in promotion of the ten Global Compact principles.
As a lead participant in the UN Global Compact, the company adheres to the principles of the compact, highly putting their focus on principle 8 and principle 9. Principle 8 deals with undertaking initiatives by particular businesses to promote environmental responsibility. Principle 9 on the other hand, deals with encouraging the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies to the society. The greatest importance is that of environmental protection. The company practices environmental and eco-system protection, provides safe and clean products and services and seeks new paths of industrialization. This is by adoption of preventive measures in order to cope with the ever rising environmental challenges, promotion of R& D of environment friendly technologies and taking initiatives to shoulder greater environmental responsibilities (Akhtarkhavari, 2010). The company’s main strategy is to set “Green and low-carbon growth”, giving priority to quality and efficiency of development. It takes its social responsibility in promotion of green development seriously. This is mainly by, strengthening environmental management, strengthening pollution control, introducing clean production, improving resource efficiency, develop low carbon business and increase environmental protection investments. With this great focus on the environment, the company has achieved the national energy saving and emission reduction targets in advance, winning the 2012 Global Compact China Best Practice.
Sinopec has undertaken initiatives that focus on the environment and technologies that protect it. By following the principles 8 and 9, (Backer, 2012) the company has invested on a plan of energy consumption by establishing the Sinopec Energy Conservation Technology Center, water consumption and recycling, emission reduction and solid waste treatment. In promoting these policies, the company has also invested in state of the art technology insisting on developing and applying advanced innovation mechanisms for all the processes, while optimizing on the available resources and improving on equipment performance. Some of these innovations include; the energy and equipment mix, combined heat and power systems, Synergetic utilization and thermal combination units.
Apart from Sinopec other companies in the same industry have dedicated their investments to the two Global Compact principles, (8 and 9) of environmental responsibility (Backer, 2012). The Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited based in India and the Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited.
The Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited is an Indian State owned oil and gas Company based in Mumbai, India. It has been a successful company worldwide and a member in the UN Global Compact. This company has shown its dedication to the two principles that deal with the environment, to appoint of addressing them in their mission statement. The policies pursued by the corporation encompass these principles with a social commitment of caring for the environment and preserving the ecological balance. In support of their commitment to the principles of the Global Compact (Rothlin, 2010), the corporation initiated a number of actions in their business. These include; implementation and commissioning of its green fuels project in its refineries, transportation of its products through extensive, environment friendly network of pipelines, installation of Continuous Ambient Air Monitoring stations and on line Stack Monitoring stations, and minimizing the environmental impacts of their products by adoption of new technologies for storage and transport.
Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited is also an Indian oil and gas corporation, based in Chennai, India. Its main business is in the refinery sector with a majority of petroleum products. The company has undertaken a number of initiatives in promotion of greater environmental responsibility as required by principle 8. This is by implementing some energy conservation measures to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. They include, optimizing the cleaning systems of the preheat exchangers and completion of the condensate recovery scheme. The company has also focused on adding the Continuous Stack Monitoring facility in Propane De-asphalting heaters and linking of Continuous Air Monitoring station. For Principle 9, the company has drawn an action plan for development of environment friendly technologies focusing on the water and air environment, desalination plants, VOC emission control, solid waste management and adoption of solar energy.
These three companies have all adopted innovative ways of resource utilization with their main focus being protection of the environment. This is by emission reduction, energy conservation and promotion of such initiatives. This proves that the companies have complied with the principles as required by the UN Global Compact. However, the geographical locations of the working areas pose high risks of human and environmental casualties if any of the new technologies fail to work as envisioned. This could be in form of the gases and oils causing any damages around, as the tests and inventions happen. Examples are the recent tragedies of the Hindustan Refinery tragedy that killed 14 people and the Sinopec Factory tragedy of 2010 that killed 12 people. During extraction of gases, leakages increase, leading to massive evacuation operations in the surrounding areas, as it happened in China in 2006. There is also interference with the natural ecosystems during oil drills, causing a need for better ways of extraction. The process of refining produces massive amounts of gases that lead to global warming, the liquid effluents and solid waste matter causes pollution in the environment, either in the air or water.
Recommendations
The environment we live in needs to be nurtured and preserved for the current and future generations. As influential companies in the world, it is their social responsibility to take the first steps and create initiatives that would help in such. Being petroleum companies, their processes require much attention and innovation that would prevent any harm to the environment while providing their resources. This creates a delicate balance that that is uniquely built for the future. For a sound economic and environmental future, some important aspects have to be followed by the company. For principle 8, it should fund and promote environmental education and continue research on newer systematic and scientific conservation strategies and technologies. For Principle 9, it should invest in oil conservation and alternative energy sources and improve on the resource extraction and transport infrastructure and update technologies in the industries with less energy input.
The company’s stakeholders will greatly benefit from these initiatives. By promotion of environmental education, the stakeholders would gain more knowledge on how to care for the environment while following the example of the company (Pegg, 2012). These include schools, hospitals, the government, employees, etc. Research would create better views what can be done with the available resources for any stakeholder to take into action. The strategies can be used to preserve protect and care for the environment, with stakeholders like the government encouraging the citizens. Utilization of alternative sources of energy would help reduce the overuse of the remaining reserves and reduce emissions into the atmosphere. This creates a cleaner and safer environment for all stakeholders involved. The innovation of new technologies in the industry with less energy input preserves energy for other uses by the stakeholders instead of the company’s industries only.
The challenges that Sinopec face include low capacity and high energy demand and consumption worldwide hindering production technologies, credibility, a lag in the energy consumption index of most refineries, the high costs of new technologies to be implemented, investments in safety guidelines of the factories and the environment around the stakeholders.
The benefits that the stakeholders enjoy are related to the prospects of the company of legislation, education and ethics (Pegg. 2012). Stakeholders gain a lot more from the company by getting a better environment for good health and survival, the government gets more income from the taxation of the company and the market trends the company gains, the hospitals and schools gain from the charity the company is involved in funds and community building strategies and the employees from safe, adequate employment opportunities offered.
References
Akhtarkhavari, Afshin. 2010. “The Global Compact, Environmental Principles, and Change in International Environmental Politics.” Denver Journal of International Law & Policy 38 (2): 277-312.
Backer Larry, C. 2012. “The Global Impact and Implementation of Human Rights Norm: From Institutional Misalignments to Socially Sustainable Governance: The Guiding Principles for the Implementation of the United Nations’ ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy and the Construction of Inter-Systemic Global Governance.” Global Business & Development Law Journal, 25 (2): p69
Liu, Y. A. 2012. Water Saving Strategies for the CPI: Chemical Engineering. Vol. 119(5): 34-41
Rothlin, Stephen. 2010. “Towards a Socially Responsible China: A Preliminary Investigation of the Implementation of the Global Compact.” Journal of International Business Ethics 3 (1): 3-13.
Scott, Pegg. 2012. “Social Responsibility and Resource Extraction: Are Chinese Oil Companies different?” Corporate Social Responsibility in the Extractive Industries: Experiences from Developing Countries, Resources Policy 37(2):160-167.
Yao, S., Bin, W., Morgan, S., and Sutherland, D. 2010. Sustainable Reform and Development in Post-Olympic China. Pgs 148-150
