Home / Sustainibility
Conducting our business sustainably underpins our strategy to thrive through the energy transition.
In a rapidly changing world, Woodside Energy’s approach to sustainability provides a strong foundation for our success and guides our path to responsible and profitable growth.
Ann Pickard,
Chair of the Sustainability Committee
Our approach
Our company strategy is to thrive through the energy transition by developing a low-cost, lower-carbon, profitable, resilient and diversified portfolio.
In 1954, a small group of explorers began drilling for oil, near a Victorian town called Woodside Energy, in the Gippsland Basin. In the early 1970s, we discovered major offshore gas fields in Western Australia. In 1984, we commissioned the North West Shelf, Australia’s largest ever resources project. And in 1989, we exported Australia’s first cargo of LNG.This strategy is underpinned by three priorities: providing energy; creating and returning value to shareholders; and conducting our business sustainably. Conducting our business sustainably means identifying, managing and reporting upon the potential impact of our business upon society and the environment, as well as the potential risks and opportunities to our operational and financial performance.
Our Sustainability Plan is overseen and regularly reviewed by the Board, its Sustainability Committee and responsible executives.
Materiality
Woodside Energy undertakes a materiality assessment process which builds upon our risk management process with a specific focus on the further identification of sustainability topics. It is intended to inform our understanding of which sustainability-related topics are most relevant to our business performance, activities and stakeholders. It considers potential risks, opportunities and impacts of sustainability topics on our business, the economy, the environment and upon people, including impacts on human rights.
In undertaking the materiality assessment, management draws upon internal and external inputs, including from our risk management process, and the monitoring of developments, trends and stakeholder views throughout the year, as well as the experience and expertise of Board directors and senior management. In addition, some specific engagements with stakeholders (such as investors, customers, communities, and governments) can help us to verify our analysis.
When topics have been identified, they are prioritised. The highest priority topics are determined to be material.3 Following endorsement by the Executive Leadership Team and the Sustainability Committee, actions to address the material topics are included in our Sustainability Plan which is monitored by the Executive Leadership Team and the Sustainability Committee.