Oxford Brookes ACFI6007: Sustainability Report of Royal Dutch Shell

This report offers a comprehensive analysis of Royal Dutch Shell's sustainability report, focusing on its prioritization of topics, compliance with the GRI framework, and integration of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The analysis delves into the company's engagement with stakeholders and its response to external reviews. Furthermore, the report examines the influence of frameworks like GRI and SDGs on corporate social and environmental sustainability, drawing on theories of corporate responsibility, specifically integrative and ethical theories. The report also explores how Royal Dutch Shell addresses issues management, public responsibility, stakeholder management, and corporate social performance. The report highlights the importance of these frameworks in shaping corporate behavior and promoting sustainable practices within the oil and gas industry. The report is a detailed examination of the report and its implications.

Running head: SUSTAINABILITY REPORT
SUSTAINABILITY REPORT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Part a
Introduction
The core value in shell is to perform business activities with integrity, honesty and
respect for the customers and other stakeholders. The main objective of the report is to
highlight the sustainability challenges that the organisation face and the process by which
the management used to tackle such challenges. The report contain a detail of the various
social safety measures taken by the organisation and the performance of the company to
protect the environment.
Discussion
Analysis
Prioritries on topics on which more focus is given
From the analysis of the sustainability report of the organisation it can be observed
that the management structured process of selection of the content of the report and check
the validity of selecting these topics in the sustainability report. The company used to
engage with different groups and individuals to get an idea about some particular concerns
of the business and the impact of such concerns on the society and on the environment. The
company also consider the views of the stakeholders like the customers, suppliers’
investors, government, and employees who have direct or indirect interest in the
organisation. The information’s are collected by following various process like conducting
formal or informal meeting with the employees or through online survey or by collecting
information from customers through direct interaction. Shell give priority to some specific
topics in its sustainability report, and these topics are generally considered on the basis of
their importance in the business, some of the topics that are considered by the company are

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energy transition and climate change, corporate governance, ethical issues and the
transparency of the business activities (Ishak and Nordin 2019). The main points that the
Royal Dutch shell plc considers are pointed below
 Determine and understand the topics that are essential for the stakeholders and
essential for framing strategies
 Making a connection between the topics that are considered as most essential for the
business.
 Identification of the topics that are not covered but have equal importance for the
business.
 Consideration of the information that can be gathered from the report review panel to
make it sure that the topics that are covered is balanced and relevant and adequate.
 Providing information to the executive committee of the selected topic, for their
authorisation.
External voices
Apart from the internal information the company also look for the external
information, and for that reason shell has developed a separate section under their
sustainability report which is also known as the external voices. These information are
utilised buy the company to make independent assessment of the activities. These
information’s are generated from various community of the society which includes civil
society, academic field, contracting and supply , leaders and also from the customers or
people who are living near the area where the company has its operation units. No
remuneration is provided to the external parties who provide information (Kowal and Kustra
2016).
Compliances with GRI
The sustainability report is prepared on the basis of the guidelines which is set by the
IPIECA the global oil and gas industry association for environmental and social issues, also

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preference given on the guidelines provided by the global reporting initiatives standards.
Beside that the company also taken the suggestion of the task force that is formed for
providing information on climate related financial disclosures to collect more guidelines that
will used in the sustainable report. The company has also a sky scenario technology and the
shell energy transition report. The task force that is prepared by the financial stability board
which is an international body and the recommendations that are provided by this regulatory
body is applied for the preparation of the sustainability report to ensure greater transparency
in the process that is applied by the management of the company to identify and evaluate
climate risk and opportunities (de Silva et al 2019).
Incorporation of UN sustainable goal
The company has successfully incorporate the UN sustainable development and
todoso the companyhas to follow several process which are explained in details in this
report. While preparation of the report the process of data collection is very essential and
shell followed a specific process for collecting data. There are several challenges in
collecting data on environmental and social issues so by strengthening the internal control
system the organisation try to improve its data integrity. The organisation provide all non-
financial data on 100% accuracy for the joint ventures which are operated by the royal shell

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plc. The environmental data that are related directly with the operations of the Royal Dutch
shell plc., are provided with full accuracy, as these can be managed by the operational
activities and the management has full control to access these kind of data, all the
employees are asked to provide the information that can be used for preparation of the
sustainable report (Comyns 2018).
The newly acquired operational units during the year 2018 are considered only for
the period during which these units or assets are used. Beside that various other data are
collected from the external sources and internal sources like employee survey and taking
customer feedbacks. The data that is provided in the social data table is generated from an
internal survey that is made by the senior executives who are present in different countries
where the company has its operation units. In spite of so many steps taken, the company
cannot give complete assurance about the accuracy of the social data but it can be assured
that the data that is provided from the internal sources are accurate and reliable (Nwagbara
and Belal 2019).
Assurance
The organisation follow a clear and transparent standard for the health, security and
safety, environment and social performance data. The facilities of shell have adopted such
standards which specify the role of the management and their responsibilities in the
preparation of the sustainability report, this also help to determine the scope of the data
collection and how such data can be collected and utilised. These standards are part of the
HSSE&SP framework that are made for providing reliable data in the sustainable report and
to ensure that the company follows every step that are essential for bringing transparency in
all the steps that are taken for the safeguard of interest of all the stakeholders (Irma and Yee
2017). The process of the mechanism of the assurance are stated below
 At all the level of facility self-assessment are made
 At every level internal auditing has been applied

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 Data at all level are reviewed on quarterly basis and assessment are also made
 To discuss about various parameters of the reporting system and the results that are
derived from such reports, the management and the leaders of various groups used
to arrange meetings annually.
Responds to the review panel
The company appointed independent experts to review the reports to make its sure
that all the relevant frameworks and guidelines have been followed which are essential to
protect the interest of the stakeholders.
Environment protection always get high priority for the Royal Dutch shell plc which
can be easily detected from the Lloyd register quality assurance limited report which clearly
states that during the course of their audit process they have found no discrepancy in the
data that are provided by the company in regard to the greenhouse gas emission and that all
the material information regarding to this matter has been properly disclosed by the
organisation.
Thus from the sustainability report of the royal Dutch shell it is clearly observed that the
company has followed all the rules as specified by the UN sustainable development goal and
the compliances required under the GRI (Rentinck 2018).
Part b
Influence of frameworks like GRI and SDG on the corporate social and environmental
sustainability
In the modern day’s corporate social and environmental sustainability policies plays
an important role which ensures that the company is taking adequate steps to protect the
environment while continuing its operations. Without serving the society any company will
not be able to continue its operations and achieve the financial objective. There are two
theories of corporate responsibility that prove a guideline following which is very essential for

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all the organisations to improve their brand image. In the modern days most of the corporate
sectors give emphasis on the sustainability reports from which the external stakeholders can
make an idea about the initiatives taken by the organisation to protect the environment and
for the wellbeing of the society. From the sustainability report of the Royal Dutch shell Plc it
can be stated that the frameworks like GRI and the UN SDG are very effective for the
implementation of a corporate social responsibility policy in an organisation (Calabrese et al
2017).
Royal dutch shell plc sustainability report analysis
The Royal Dutch shell which is one of the largest company in the oil and gas industry
which requires a high standards of corporate social and ethical behaviour has get success in
preparing the sustainability report by following the GRI and UNSDG guidelines. The
company has followed the basic requirements of the regulatory framework under the GRI
and SDG regarding the safety measures for the employees and the environment and also
the code of conduct that is to be followed in continuing all the internal affairs of the
organisation (Hanna and Hurmelinna-Laukkanen 2019).
Corporate responsibility theories
The two theories of corporate responsibility that are useful to evaluate the influence
of the GRI and the SDG are the integrative theory and the ethical theories.
Integrative theories
Integrative theories is depend on the demand of the society for its application in the
maintenance of sustainable growth. In this case social demand refers to the interaction of
the society with the organisations that perform their activities within the society. The society
give acknowledgement of the performance of the organisation and the brand or goodwill of
the organisation is dependent on the society. Further the theories of this group concentrates
on the identification and scanning of the response that the organisation give towards earning
of social prestige and social acceptance. The success of an organisation is largely depend

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on the fact that how well the company has been accepted by the society (LeBaron and
Rühmkorf 2017). There are several points which are considered in this theory these are
explained below
Issues management
The social responsiveness expands with the concept of issue management, this
concept is made on the basis of the response that the corporate houses give to any social
issue or problem. This is a process by which the organisations detect and evaluate and give
response to these social matters that can indirectly effect the business activities (He 2018).
The principle of responsibility of the public
The policy of public includes various law rules and regulations and an extensive
pattern of the direction of the society which is reflected by the opinion of the public, the
issues that are emerged, formal requirements of the laws and regulations and the
implementation of the practices that will solve such public issues (Higgins and Coffey 2016).
Stakeholder management
The management of the stakeholders is mainly emphasised on the principle of the
public responsibility and include such groups which have a stake in the organisation and in
to the decision making process.
Corporate social performance
The concept of corporate social performance is a part of the integrative theory which
includes the concept of social legitimacy and the social responsiveness. This also includes
the principle of the corporate social responsibility which is expressed in the level of the
organisations and also individuals. The corporate social performance is the combined
outcome of the social responsiveness, stakeholder management, issues management and
behaviour of corporate bodies (Gregora 2019).
Ethical theories

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The ethical theories concentrates on the ethical needs that create a strong bond
between the business and society which is made on the basis of the principles that shows
direction to the organisations what they should do to achieve a good reputation in the society
and make long term relation with the society. This theory also explains the principle that the
organisations should behave ethically to protect the environment as without improving the
environmental conditions no organisation will be able to achieve sustainable growth
(Ioannou and Serafeim 2019).
From the analysis of the Royal Dutch shell plc sustainability report and the theorioes
of corporate social responsibility it vcan be said that the GRI and SDG framework creates a
great impact in making the corporate sectors more responsible towards the protection of the
environment and for the betterment of the society within which the organisations operates
its business activities.
Conclusion
From the above discussion it can be concluded that the corporate social
responsibility policies of the organisations plays an effective role in creating a relationship
between the organisations and the society. In the modern days the organisations have to
depend a lot on the society to continue its operations so it become a major responsibility of
the organisation to give back some return to the environment and society from which they
are taking so many opportunities .the GDI and the UN SDG guidelines are useful in
providing the way in which the organisations should behave in protecting the environment
and for the wellbeing of the society which will help the organisations to achieve sustainable
growth in the future.

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Appendices