Environmental Engineering: Comparing BP's Policies to Oil Industry

This essay provides a comparative analysis of BP's environmental policies and programs against other major players in the oil industry. It examines the proactive approaches taken by BP and other companies towards environmental sustainability, referencing specific initiatives and policies implemented by firms such as Shell, Vodafone, Exxon Mobil, Total, Chevron, Statoil, Suncor Energy, Texaco, and Conoco Phillips. The analysis assesses the success of BP's environmental approach compared to its competitors, highlighting both BP's achievements and areas where other companies demonstrate similar or greater commitment to environmental conservation. Ultimately, the essay evaluates the extent to which BP's sustainability efforts stand out within the broader context of the oil industry's environmental responsibility.

ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING 1
COMPARISON OF THE POLICIES AND PROGRAMS OF BP WITH OTHER
PLAYERS IN THE OIL INDUSTRY
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ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING 2
OTHER OIL COMPANIES
Royal Dutch Shell
Shell Company aims at providing energy to its ever-growing customers worldwide in a
safe and efficient manner. Shell policies aimed at protecting their customers and employees
against harm in the line of work. This policy is the Company’s approach to ensuring a
sustainable organization due to the many benefits associated with it.
In addition to providing energy, Shell Company greatly considers the effects that their
operations may have on the environment and are therefore involved in conserving the
environment. This participation has been ongoing since 1997 whereby they report on current
environmental conditions and establish ways to improve the environment to make it a better
place for human beings. Shell Oil Company also participates in community activities of
neighboring communities to ensure their sustainability (Ihlen and Roper, 2014).
Vodafone
Vodafone Company has their code of conduct and values which are centered on trust.
Their employees are guided by these values and are expected to conduct themselves well and be
trustworthy.
They also have business principles which guide their relationships with different parties
encountered. The customers are the priority of the business and are treated with respect and their
confidential information protected. The relationship between employees in the Company is also
respectful. No discrimination or harassment is allowed since the employees are from different

ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING 3
backgrounds, they voice complaints whenever there is a problem and financial integrity is
maintained. The Company strictly adhere to laws and legalities and all employees are expected
to adhere to that. For example, no taking of bribes.
The Company is also involved in community activities to enable them to get the peoples’
views concerning their products and improve where necessary to ensure sustainability. They
invest in charitable activities in the society so as to ensure their resources are well utilized.
Vodafone is focused on protecting the environment by avoiding the release of non-
renewable sources of energy into the environment and release of harmful wastes into the
environment.
Exxon Mobil
Exxon Mobil Company has policies to protect human rights as outlined in John Ruggie’s
report in 2008. The committees and board of directors in the Company ensure the human rights
policies are adhered to and implemented. They help maintain the human rights of the
neighboring communities to ensure sustainability. This is achieved by ensuring the interests of
the communities are protected. For example, not interfering with their culture.
The Company’s policy of human rights also involves protecting the environment and the
surrounding communities from effects associated with the oil industry. In 2012 the Company
came up with a project which helps them to identify risks at early stages and prevent them before
they damage the environment and the people around. They also conducted a training program in
2013 for people in high-risk areas to educate them on how to protect themselves and the

ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING 4
environment (Du and Vieira, 2012). Apart from these, the Company has many more projects
which support their policy of protecting human rights.
Total
Total Oil Company has a code of conduct that states that they have zero tolerance for
corruption as in the United Nations Global compact tenth principle. This helps to guide the
general behavior of employees and customers. Their programs include training on awareness,
participation in human rights programs, ensuring transparency in financial activities and
involvement in corruption prevention seminars (Nemetz, 2013).
The Company highly respects human rights and recognizes the fact that there are some of
the Company’s activities which may affect human rights. Therefore, they are involved in
external activities that help in protecting human rights such as Global Business Initiative on
Human Rights.
Chevron
The policies of this oil Company is a commitment to work which is the main driving
force towards its success. This commitment is accompanied by being innovative and grabbing
profitable opportunities to ensure growth (Utting and Ives, 2006).
In 2013, the Company has put in place a public policy committee to focus on the social
and environmental issues in the Company. The committee ensures that the environment is
protected by not releasing harmful wastes into the environment and properly recycling them.
Statoil

ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING 5
The Company’s policies ensure compliance with the laws, good ethics, anti-corruption,
integrity and respectful relationships with employees and customers. The policies on ethics and
code of conduct help the Company to maintain a competitive edge in the market (Petrick et al,
2013). However, they are not involved in environmental activities for sustainability
Suncor Energy
Suncor Energy aims at supplying safe energy in Canada and the entire world in general.
To ensure their sustainability, the Company is involved in supporting infrastructure by helping in
the construction of a pipeline to increase access to new markets. This has enabled them access
markets such as USA and gulf coast. The Company has also been involved in many large
projects in supporting the infrastructure of the neighboring communities.
Texaco
This Company is associated with automobile products from Havoline motors and are
sponsors of many racing competitions. In the previous years, they were accused of causing vast
environment pollution in surrounding areas (Kolk and Levy, 2001). Therefore, they have tried to
put in place measures to reduce the effects and conserve the environment.
Conoco Phillips
To ensure the sustainability, the Company is involved in supporting environment
conversation and ensuring vibrant and sustainable communities. They believe in educating and
informing stakeholders and other associated people about power and energy so as to ensure
informed decisions are made conserving energy and oil products. Apart from that, they also
support parents especially mothers who have given birth.

ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING 6
COMPARISON WITH BP
The oil industries described above have the ability to negatively affect the environment
and the community in which they operate. Therefore, almost all the companies undertake a
proactive approach to protect the environment so as to ensure sustainability. BP is successful in
ensuring sustainability through undertaking an environmental approach compared to other
companies such as Statoil and Total who do are not actively involved in protecting the
environment (Post et al, 2015). However, other companies such as shell, Vodafone, Conoco
Phillips, Chevron and Exxon Mobil are as active as BP in ensuring sustainability by conserving
the environment. Therefore, BP is not successful when compared to these companies.

ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING 7
List of References
Du, S. and Vieira, E.T., 2012. Striving for legitimacy through corporate social responsibility:
Insights from oil companies. Journal of Business Ethics, 110(4), pp.413-427.
Ihlen, Ø. and Roper, J., 2014. Corporate reports on sustainability and sustainable
development:‘We have arrived’. Sustainable development, 22(1), pp.42-51.
Kolk, A. and Levy, D., 2001. Winds of Change:: Corporate Strategy, Climate change, and Oil
Multinationals. European Management Journal, 19(5), pp.501-509.
Nemetz, P.N., 2013. Anderson Jr, I.H., 2015. The Standard-Vacuum Oil Company and United
States East Asian Policy, 1933-1941. Princeton University Press.Routledge.
Petrick, J.A., Scherer, R.F., Brodzinski, J.D., Quinn, J.F. and Ainina, M.F., 2013. Global
leadership skills and reputational capital: Intangible resources for sustainable competitive
advantage. The Academy of Management Executive, 13(1), pp.58-69.
Post, C., Rahman, N. and McQuillen, C., 2015. From board composition to corporate
environmental performance through sustainability-themed alliances. Journal of Business
Ethics, 130(2), pp.423-435.
Utting, P. and Ives, K., 2006. The politics of corporate responsibility and the oil industry. St
Antony's International Review, 2(1), pp.11-34.