JCU Environmental Sustainability Monitoring System Analysis Report

This report examines a sustainability monitoring system, emphasizing the environmental dimensions of business operations. It introduces the concept of the triple bottom line (Planet, Profit, People) and its significance in assessing a company's impact. The report details various environmental indicators, such as biodiversity, energy consumption, waste management, and greenhouse gas emissions, and explains their importance in measuring sustainability performance. A case study of Royal Dutch Shell illustrates how these dimensions and indicators are applied in practice, covering socio-cultural, economic, and environmental aspects. The report further explores the company's business groups and their roles in sustainability efforts, with a focus on the environmental dimension, including the company's indicators for monitoring its performance. The analysis includes an assessment of the indicators and their relevance in achieving sustainability goals.

Running Head: MONITORING SYSTEM
Sustainability Monitoring System
Name of the Student
JCU Number
Subject Number:
Subject Lecturer’s name:
Assignment date and time:
Author Note

1MONITORING SYSTEM
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Enterprise and sustainability dimensions.........................................................................................2
List of dimensions of Royal Dutch Shell.........................................................................................8
Assessment of the indicators.........................................................................................................12
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................15
Reference.......................................................................................................................................16

2MONITORING SYSTEM
Introduction
The sustainability of the business are monitored depending upon the indicators that
measures the activities and the operation a company conducts. The impact of the activities that
an organization makes on the world is measured through those dimensions (Ghisellini et al.,
2014). The organization must keep track of all the activities going on in its premises no that no
act can cause any harmful effect on the environment. Hence, the organization must engage into
implementing initiative and strategies to reduce the greenhouse gases that are emitted from their
factories.
In this report the dimensions will be discussed, the related indicators for measuring for
the monitoring mostly focusing on one dimension at last assessing the indicators on variable
aspects.
Enterprise and sustainability dimensions
The dimensions that the enterprise utilises are the Planet, Profit and People. It is also
known as the triple bottom line. It aims to absorb the essence that the sustainability causes on the
activities of any organizations. The triple bottom line displays the associated profits, company’s
capital related to the human, environmental and social aspects and values that shareholders have
on the organizations, all these variations take a fulfilling part in being the important element on
the dimensions (Singh et al., 2014). The most important aspect of the triple bottom line is that it
reflects the positive side of the organizations which have been operating is most efficient and
effective ways. The sustainability of the organization can be understood as the three whole
sphere.
The dimensions can be further explained as following:

3MONITORING SYSTEM
Planet: This is related to the place the organisation is operating, hence putting focus on the
ecological sustainability that is meeting the demands of the people that are living is the present
time is important along with keeping the possible products for the people in future so that their
demands can also be fulfilled. This is important because it was found that the wastes from the
companies effects the living organisms at a large scale. Therefore, the companies must take-up
prevention processes related to the company activities that aims for the betterment of the
environment. The GRI that is the Global Reporting Initiative, considers some indicators for
keeping track of the performances of the environment related to the company are as follows:
 Biodiversity: The company acquires a particular size of land, the location that it is
situated is comprises of high diverse biodiversity. Hence, in order to control and manage
the impacts that the company have on the nearby lands need to be managed well with
effective strategies.
 Energy: The amount of energy that the company utilizes or consumes can be indirect or
direct from the environment. The primary sources of energy consumption can be saved
by the effective ways of energy conservation strategies. The consumption of the energy
by the company can be reduced and utilization of the renewable type of energy can be
introduced as well as promoted among the same industry. The effective steps and
strategies can be implemented in the company as well.
 Transport: The transportation of goods of the company from its warehouses to the
destination where the goods and products given for its final sell. The fuels used in those
vehicles effect the environment is a negative manner. Also the transport not only contains
the products and goods, but also the people to several workplaces.

4MONITORING SYSTEM
 Raw materials: The raw materials used in order to manufacture the final product of the
company are taken up from the environment only, so in order to stop the exhaustion of
the raw materials the recycled and renewable materials can be used in place of the earlier
materials. The quantity of the required materials are also huge, so utilization of those type
of materials will help in sustainability.
 Effluents, Waste and Emission: The factories of the organization uses variable types of
materials for manufacturing and the process consist of several emissions of gases that are
harmful for the environment too. These emissions consist of the greenhouse gases, these
gases are considered to be important to the environment, however, if its quantity
increases in the atmosphere it becomes poisonous for the living being. These gases also
causes ozone depletion which is the cause of harmful diseases in the humans like skin
cancer, damage in the immune system, eye cataract, increased level of ultraviolet rays of
the sun, etc.
 Water quantity- The amount of water used in the organization are of huge quantities, the
manufacturing of the products require the use of huge amount of water (Delgoshaei &
Lohani, 2014). Therefore, recycling of the usable water is necessary for its sustainability
of the future use.
Profit: The economic circumstances of the stakeholders of the company is a matter of fact for
the economic dimensions that the company shapes. This dimension aims to uphold and improve
the stakeholder’s status related to their economic aspect irrespective of the financial condition of
the organization. The GRI have identifies some of the indicators for the performance of the
company in terms of economy are paid taxes, creation of jobs, profits, investment returns, sales,
inflow and outflow of cash.

5MONITORING SYSTEM
The division of the stakeholders and the impacts they have on the economic aspect are as
follows:
 Employees: The inflow and out flow of money ion the company is related to the salary
payments of the employees, pensions after their retirement, daily wages payment to the
contact based workers and redundancy payments.
 Public Sector: The payments made for donation to the public sector, payment of taxes,
donation to the civil society are in the interest to the public. Hence, these are the
indicators of the company’s economic status.
 Customers: The incomes from the selling of the products to the customers. It consists of
all the losses and the profits which makes the net sell of the company. The flow of money
in the company is also related to the customers of the company as discussed prior.
 Capital Provider: The investments made in the company as well as the retention in
overall earnings for the completion of a particular product is a vital indicator of the
direction that the money of the company is flowing.
 Suppliers: In order to manufacture a particular product, it requires a variation of
materials, goods as well as services, the cost associated with the materials and the
services adds to the overall costing of the product and thus the flow of the money
invested in them is observed.
People: One important indicator is the impact of the company on the people. That is not only the
employees of the company but also the people related to the company. These are measured from
the satisfaction of the employees from their working environment, safety in the company, effects
on the consumers of the company and the local people surrounding the company. The above

6MONITORING SYSTEM
discussed people are the important participant for monitoring and predicting the sustainability of
the company in the social culture.
The indicators for measuring the performance of the company in terms of their social activities
are as follows:
 Rights of the Humans: The associated people will have the freedom to engage
themselves for a good cause, taken up strategies that benefits the company, no
discriminations must be practised among the employees.
 Responsibility of the products: The products that are manufactures must be kept within
the warehouse with utmost security as those are the ways of their earnings (Maltz, Bi &
Bateman, 2018). This also includes the safety of the people working in the company as
well as their health. The privacy of each employees are maintained well in the company.
 Practices of the workers: The working personnel must have the access to the health
management facilities, time to time education about the company policies, operations and
for the products (Lawrence, 2017). The relation of the employees must be given
importance and effective arrangement of programs for employee engagement is
conducted.
 Safety purposes: The community of the working people must be kept safe from
corruption, bribery and political influences. The safety of the people associated to the
company is an important indicator as they uplift the company and keeps the company
going to achieving its highest goals.
About Royal Dutch Shell Company
A British-Dutch Company that has been involved with the gas and oil since 1890 is
famous by its name of Royal Dutch Shell and in short as “Shell”. The company is situated in

7MONITORING SYSTEM
Netherlands and associated with United Kingdom, maintaining its position at the third place
globally in terms of high revenues in 2018. By 2019, it was designated as the 9th largest
company among the energy handling companies in the whole world (Ikapi, 2016). It integrated
all the areas related to gas and oil, such as transportation, exploration and refining,
petrochemicals, trading, production and power generation. It also formulates activities of the
energies that can be renewed and reused for the longer period of time (Hokroh, 2014). Those
energy are obtained from the wind, solar energy, hydrogen, biofuels and energy kite system.
The business groups that the company has four categories such as the downstream,
project and technology, new energies and integrated gas and Upstream. The downstream section
deals with the marketing, distribution and manufacturing of the products of chemicals, oils and
gases (Manning, Braam & Reimsbach, 2019). The manufacturing department deals with the
activities of the crude oil such as its supply, refining, and shipping to the customers. The
technology and the project department handles the technical services that the company aimed to
provide to its customers along with the internal development of the company in terms of safety,
procurement, health of the employees, etc. (Ahmad & Mehmood, 2015). The new energies and
integrated gas deals with the conversion of gas into liquids and several other utilization of low-
carbons. The actives performed by the upstream department are the searching of the crude oil,
operations of the midstream and upstream that includes the delivery of the gas and oil to the
respective customers as well as to the markets.
The primary operation of Royal Dutch Shell is the management of the activities related to
the gas and oil operations. This company is considered to be a vertically integrated company
based mainly oil related activities. The vertically integration consist of several stages starting
from the search of the oil, then the harvest the oil properly, transporting the oil to its required

8MONITORING SYSTEM
place, then the process of the oil that is the refining of the oil, then the trading is done and finally
marketing of the final product. Another raw item of the company is gas, this contributes a huge
amount in the profit of the business.
List of dimensions of Royal Dutch Shell
The indicators used by Royal Dutch Shell to monitor the dimensions for measuring the
company’s performance for understanding its sustainability for the future. The dimensions that
Shell has are socio-culture, economic and environment, however we will be focusing on
environmental dimension. The dimension are described below in brief:
 Socio culture: The social culture of the company is a set of security, diversity, human
rights and health safety.
Security- This related to the safeguarding of the employees and the stakeholders of the
company this security may related to the investments that the stakeholders make or the
protection that the employees will require (Setoet al., 2017). By the international
standards of law enforcement the company have to follow some stated rules and
regulations. A group of people are assigned for the security of the information,
employees and the property of the company.
Diversity- Shell has always given preference in have divers work force in the company
because as per them diversity attracts respect towards the company. Also people with
different background will contribute to enhance the company with their variable
experiences (Bachmann & Pereira, 2014) Also, the company can be represented and
spread to the varied parts of the world. The ability to compete with any cultured company
in the same industry will become easier.

9MONITORING SYSTEM
Human rights- The Company divides its duty in two parts one is the duty to the
government and international platforms. The other one is the responsibility towards the
employees’ safety (Jorna, 2017). HSC is developed by the company for its employees as
per the ILO declaration. The company has been recognised for investing in other
countries, it gets guidance from the Global Compact of UN. They promotes practices that
concerns the security of the people of the company and their rights in the company.
Health Safety- As discussed above Shell has dedicated HSE. The procedures and
policies are well practised in the company for the employees. A routine check-up for the
employees are conducted. In the year 2009 Shell has the record of lowest rate of injuries
and mortality in the company.
 Economic- The aim of Shell is to provide product and service related to oils and gases,
basically a Company cantered towards petrochemicals, with the lowest possible
consumption of the natural availability of the oils and gases (Daae, Chamberlin & Boks,
2017). The demand for energy needed to be fulfilled, keeping the feasibility of the
economic, environment and social aspects (Steyn & Niemann, 2014). The monetary
exercise that the company has made is always in the favour of the people and government
with proper taxations and exercise duties.
Revenue- Their income in the first quarter on 2019 was identified to be $6 billion, the
revenue generated in the same quarter is $85.66 billion and the operated cash flow
recorded being $8.63 billion. In 2009, MEG (Mono-ethylene-glycol) plant was opened by
Shell and it has been designated as the key company in the market for the MEG
production.

10MONITORING SYSTEM
New Projects- Another project named as Pearl GTL is initiated by Shell that produces
liquid from gases. This will deliver 120000 barrels of kerosene and clean diesel which
will be around 140000 barrels (Zalewski, McClain & Eslamian, 2016). Along with that
Qatargas 4 will be utilised to convert LNG from gas that will be on the quantity of 1.4
billion.
 Environment- Shell deals with the petrochemical industry, thus the amount of harmful
wastes produced are of large quantity. Thus to reduce the effects that the wastes makes on
the environment was always a concern of Shell (Iwuet al., 2015). In earlier year Shell had
faced some unfavourable situations related to its activities that had harmed the
environment, which are oil spill and leakage in gas tank. The indicators that Shell has
with respect to the environmental dimension are to the change in climatic conditions,
water, substances of Ozone depletion, Gas emission, spills, biodiversity and awareness of
product.
Change is climatic condition- The changes in the climate can be observed at greater
pace and Shell took initiatives against it (Beske & Seuring, 2014) The ways through
which Shell has planned to contribute to the betterment of the climatic condition are
development of low CO2 and natural gas sources, regulate the CO2 consumption in the
market integrating with the government, enhancing the company operation’s for
implementation of activities at faster pace, investing more on researches of technologies
that consumes energy less and that reduces emission of harmful gases and hydrocarbons
in the nature and demand management from the customers and providing alternatives to
them so that the demand for less energy consumption product increases (Montiel &
Delgado-Ceballos,2014).

11MONITORING SYSTEM
Water- The demand of fresh water is increasing day by day and the availability of fresh
water only for consumption is also very difficult to meet. Even people are dying for the
scarcity of water (Marnewick, 2017). While Shell requires a specific amount of water for
the refining process, however, they are utilizing several technologies that uses the water
less without effecting the operations in the company. It has been seen that Shell is using
less of water from the previous years and they are mainly focusing in utilising the water
as reusable or recycling the water.
Substances of Ozone depletion- The CFCs that stands for the Chlorofluorocarbons are
the main cause of ozone depletion, the depletion is allowing the ultraviolet rays from the
sun and those rays have severe effect on the living organisms and can lead to skin cancer,
eye cataract and many dangerous diseases (Aldaou, 2015). However, for the same
reasons Shell avoided all the possible uses of CFCs from their production process. This
way them have contributed in controlling the amount of CFCs in the environment.
Gas emission- Every day new technologies are invented and implemented in Shell, one
such technology is for controlling the emission of the greenhouse gases (Hennchen,
2015). The efficiencies in the energy utilization is implemented with the least use of the
greenhouse gases. This is getting better from the previous year too.
Spills- The leakage in the oil tanks are common to occurs, however, it is reduced by
proper maintenance of the tanks in routine check-ups. The systems and procedures taken
up by Shell are getting stronger day to day basis (Frank et al. 2016). It was recorded that
the spills are getting reduced from the last year. However, the pipelines of the tanks one
get ruptured due to a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico.

12MONITORING SYSTEM
Biodiversity- The operation that Shell conducts involves the surrounding that is the
biodiversity. Whenever, a project is initiated by Shell, they do proper check-up, tests and
analysis of that area to predict the harmful impact on the nature (SHERAFATIAN-
JAHROMI, 2016). If risks are found then proper preventions are drawn, strategies are
laid out to mitigate the same. In Arctic, Shell collaborated with a local corporation to
formulate plans and practices of sustainable development for environment.
Awareness of the products- The products of Shell is framed to utilize the fossil fuels
which is considered to be better than coal as it does not leaves any remains after its
burning. The fossil is clear that the coal utilised earlier (Axelrod & VanDeveer, 2014).
The use of natural gas that will reduce the emission of the CO2 and not effecting the
nature much. The CCS project that Shell was involved has the aim to capture the CO2
around 3.8 million tonnes from the environment and install it in the ground in two km
below the ground level. A joint venture with a Brazilian company was initiated to use
biofuels in an efficient way.
Assessment of the indicators
SL.
NO.
INDICATOR DESCRIPTION HOW TO
MEASURE
LIMITATION
1 Change is
climatic
condition
With the effective
implementation of the
strategies developed by
Shell that is the use of
low CO2 and natural gas
sources, market
It can be observed
when the demand
in the market has
shifted, the cost of
fuels reduced,
amount of CO2
The limitation is that
market demands do
not shift to other,
other sources of
natural gas and CO2
gets ineffective to

13MONITORING SYSTEM
regulation, etc. reduced in the
nature.
use.
2 Water As the petrochemical
industry is the largest
consumer of fresh water,
hence the reduction of
use can be effective for
the environment at
greater scale.
The availability of
the fresh water
will increase if
measured in a
single area over a
period of time.
The drawback can be
the recycles water for
the refinery did not
work out for Shell
and they again have
to use the fresh
water.
3 Substances of
Ozone
depletion
The CFCs used in the
manufacturing of the
products in the
photochemical industry
can be replaced with
other elements that do
not harm the nature it
that rate.
The emission from
the factories can
be analysed for the
present of the
CFCs
The inability of
replacement of the
CFCs in sone
manufacturing
processes can be a
huge problem.
4 Gas emission The emission of the
greenhouse gases consist
of harmful oxides,
carbonates, hydro
carbons and carbon
dioxide at huge amount.
The emission
report of the
Company will
indicate the
amount of gases
emitted in the
It can be observed
that the leakages in
the gas tanks or
failure in the proper
dispersal of wastes.

14MONITORING SYSTEM
coming years.
5 Spills The oil spill from the
pipelines and tank can
be maintained over a
period of time.
Better quality
installation of
containers will
reflect on the
annual report of
the company about
the spills.
The continuous
sabotage is some
plants by outsiders,
bad quality of the
pipelines, etc.
6 Biodiversity The surrounding of the
factories are important
to attain sustainability.
The betterment of
the surrounding of
the factories, clear
drinking water and
fresh air shows the
effectiveness of
the indicator
The leakages from
tanks and pipes will
have harmful effect
on the living
organisms.
7 Awareness of
the products
The changing raw
materials, fuels and
ways of manufacturing
makes it an indicator.
The indulgence in
energy efficient
projects by Shell.
The projects may
fails and the
customers may fail in
acquiring knowledge
about the products
processed in new
ways.

15MONITORING SYSTEM
Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded that activities of sustainable development is necessary for every
company and Shell has implemented it at greater levels. As per the dimensions, the environment,
economic and social-culture are given importance. The economical aspect of any company can
be understood from its financial status. The profit and loss of the company represents how much
the financial stability is present in the company and indicates how better the stakeholder
engagement and management will work out. Shell always comes up with new substances that
will have minimum effect on the environment. The environmental dimension being the main
focus of the overall discussion as the indicators have been effective. Shell have planned to reduce
the risk in the environment and reduce the amount of carbon available in the environment and for
the future they are building system that consumes less energy for its operations.

16MONITORING SYSTEM
Reference
Ahmad, N., & Mehmood, R. (2015). Enterprise systems: are we ready for future sustainable
cities. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, 20(3), 264-283.
Aldaoud, T. (2015). M&A Towards a Global Reach Strategy: Cross-Border M&A Success and
Failure: The Case of Daimler-Chrysler Merger.
Axelrod, R. S., & VanDeveer, S. D. (Eds.). (2014). The global environment: institutions, law,
and policy. CQ Press.
Bachmann, S., & Pereira, V. (2014). Corporate human rights responsibility and multinationality
in emerging markets: a legal perspective for corporate governance and responsibility.
International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, 9(1), 52-67.
Beske, P., & Seuring, S. (2014). Putting sustainability into supply chain management. Supply
Chain Management: an international journal, 19(3), 322-331.
Brzesowsky, R. H., Hangx, S. J. T., Brantut, N., & Spiers, C. J. (2014). Compaction creep of
sands due to time‐dependent grain failure: Effects of chemical environment, applied
stress, and grain size. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 119(10), 7521-
7541.
Daae, J., Chamberlin, L., & Boks, C. (2017). Dimensions of sustainable behaviour in a circular
economy context.
Delgoshaei, P., & Lohani, V. K. (2014). Design and application of a real-time water quality
monitoring lab in sustainability education. International Journal of Engineering
Education, 30(2), 505-519.

17MONITORING SYSTEM
Frank, A. G., Dalle Molle, N., Gerstlberger, W., Bernardi, J. A. B., & Pedrini, D. C. (2016). An
integrative environmental performance index for benchmarking in oil and gas industry.
Journal of cleaner production, 133, 1190-1203.
García-Álvarez, M. T., Moreno, B., & Soares, I. (2016). Analyzing the environmental and
resource pressures from European energy activity: A comparative study of EU member
states. Energy, 115, 1375-1384.
Ghisellini, P., Zucaro, A., Viglia, S., & Ulgiati, S. (2014). Monitoring and evaluating the
sustainability of Italian agricultural system. An emergy decomposition analysis.
Ecological Modelling, 271, 132-148.
Hennchen, E. (2015). Royal Dutch Shell in Nigeria: where do responsibilities end?. Journal of
Business Ethics, 129(1), 1-25.
Hokroh, M. A. (2014). An analysis of the oil and gas industry’s competitiveness using Porter’s
five forces framework. Global Journal of Commerce and Management Perspective, 3(2),
76-82.
Ikapi, T. M. (2016, October). An Oil and Gas Company Operating in An Area of High
Biodiversity-A Model for Sustainable Development and Social Responsibility. In SPE
African Health, Safety, Security, Environment, and Social Responsibility Conference and
Exhibition. Society of Petroleum Engineers.
Iwu, C., Kapondoro, L., Twum-Darko, M., & Tengeh, R. (2015). Determinants of sustainability
and organisational effectiveness in non-profit organisations. Sustainability, 7(7), 9560-
9573.
Jorna, R. (Ed.). (2017). Sustainable innovation: The organisational, human and knowledge
dimension. Routledge.

18MONITORING SYSTEM
Lawrence, A. T. (2017). The drivers of stakeholder engagement: Reflections on the case of
Royal Dutch/Shell. In Unfolding Stakeholder Thinking (pp. 185-199). Routledge.
Maltz, E., Bi, H. H., & Bateman, M. (2018). Benchmarking sustainability performance: the next
step in building sustainable business models. Journal of Public Affairs, 18(3), e1606.
Manning, B., Braam, G., & Reimsbach, D. (2019). Corporate governance and sustainable
business conduct—E ffects of board monitoring effectiveness and stakeholder
engagement on corporate sustainability performance and disclosure choices. Corporate
Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 26(2), 351-366.
Marnewick, C. (2017). Information system project's sustainability capabality levels.
International Journal of Project Management, 35(6), 1151-1166.
Montiel, I., & Delgado-Ceballos, J. (2014). Defining and measuring corporate sustainability: Are
we there yet?. Organization & Environment, 27(2), 113-139.
Pupovac, S. (2014). A Critical Discourse Analysis of Oil Spill Disclosure: A Case of Royal
Dutch Shell in Nigeria.
Seto, K. C., Golden, J. S., Alberti, M., & Turner, B. L. (2017). Sustainability in an urbanizing
planet. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(34), 8935-8938.
SHERAFATIAN-JAHROMI, R. E. Z. A. (2016). ECONOMIC, ENVIRONMENTAL AND
SOCIAL EXTERNALITIES OF TOURISM IN SOUTHEAST ASIA.
Singh, N., Danell, K., Edenius, L., & Ericsson, G. (2014). Tackling the motivation to monitor:
success and sustainability of a participatory monitoring program. Ecology and Society,
19(4).

19MONITORING SYSTEM
Steyn, B., & Niemann, L. (2014). Strategic role of public relations in enterprise strategy,
governance and sustainability—A normative framework. Public Relations Review, 40(2),
171-183.
Stirling, A. (2014). From sustainability to transformation: dynamics and diversity in reflexive
governance of vulnerability. Vulnerability in Technological Cultures: new directions in
research and governance, 305-332.
Zalewski, M., McClain, M., & Eslamian, S. (2016). New challenges and dimensions of
Ecohydrology–enhancement of catchments sustainability potential.