CALGARY, Alberta- Baytex Energy Corp. (TSX: BTE) today released its 2020 Environment, Social and Governance (“ESG”) Report, which demonstrates our commitment to transparency and accountability, and shows our progress in managing the environmental and social impacts of our business. The report is available on the Baytex website at www.baytexenergy.com.
“We are proud to share Baytex’s fifth biennial ESG report, formerly called our Corporate Sustainability Report. While the name has changed, we remain committed to developing responsible energy for the future while providing balanced and transparent disclosure of our non-financial performance. We know that our ESG efforts are essential to our long-term viability and relevance. As we see it, sustainability is not a destination – it is a way of working and taking on the next challenge. This culture of improvement and commitment is demonstrated through setting new expectations and targets to position us for the future,” commented Ed LaFehr, President and Chief Executive Officer. “To further these efforts, I am pleased to announce that we have appointed Chad Lundberg as our Chief Operating and Sustainability Officer,” he added.
Highlights
- Reduced our corporate GHG intensity by 46% from our 2018 baseline, exceeding our 30% target.
- Reduced our annual reportable spill volumes by 59% in the past five years.
- Reduced our recordable injury rate by 25% in the past five years.
- Established a 2020 fresh water use baseline.
- Initiated our emergency response protocols to address the pandemic and protect the safety of our people.
- Provided Indigenous awareness training for our executive team, senior leaders, and other employees who work with Indigenous communities.
- Signed an economic development agreement with the Peavine Métis Settlement in January 2020.
- Spent more than $22 million with Indigenous suppliers during 2019 and 2020.
- Completed a period of significant Board renewal to ensure independence and to increase diversity, with 25% women Board members today.
- Realigned our pay-for-performance to reflect additional financial and sustainability metrics that will drive the long-term success of our company.
- Expanded the mandate of the Reserves Committee of the Board to include sustainability matters, renaming it the Reserves and Sustainability Committee.
- Established our Environmental Sustainability Team, a cross-functional group that plays a key role in enhancing our environmental performance, managing regulatory change, and improving our reporting.
Our 2020 ESG performance disclosure is guided by three reporting frameworks: the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).
New Targets
We are committed to enhancing our culture of sustainability to move closer to our vision of being a leader in ESG. As we plan for the future, we have set the bar higher by setting new environmental and social goals.
- GHG intensity reduction of 65% by 2025
- Reduce inactive well count to zero by 2040
Having surpassed our first GHG target, we want to further decarbonize our operations and have committed to reduce our GHG intensity by 65% by 2025, from our 2018 baseline. Additionally, to shrink the environmental footprint of our operations, we have set a bold new target to reduce our inactive well count of 4,500 wells to zero by 2040. We are also evaluating and testing methods to reduce our fresh water intensity. Through continued employee engagement, we are enhancing our understanding of workplace diversity to set us up for an even stronger workforce in the future.
We believe these targets and initiatives will enhance our long-term sustainability.
Executive Appointment
We have appointed Mr. Chad Lundberg to Chief Operating and Sustainability Officer to lead our sustainability efforts and to reinforce Baytex’s commitment to developing responsible energy for the future. He will retain his existing responsibilities as head of the Light Oil business, and will spend more time explicitly linking our sustainability priorities and efforts to our capital allocation and strategic planning processes. We have an outstanding environmental sustainability team within the company, which will now have executive sponsorship and clear linkage to the Reserves and Sustainability Committee of our Board of Directors – which has oversight for sustainability matters at Baytex. Mr. Lundberg has 20 years of experience and joined Baytex on August 22, 2018 as Vice President, Viking Business Unit.