Environmental management and planning

Our environmental management processes are guided by our Protect Tomorrow. Today. initiative, which outlines our expectations for delivering superior environmental performance and achieving industry leadership in priority areas of importance to each business.

Our Environmental Business Planning (EBP) process, which integrates environmental improvement into overall business plans and strategies, is used by our businesses to identify key environmental drivers that are specific to their processes and activities, set targets in key focus areas, and identify projects and actions to achieve those targets. For example, eliminating spills is an important leadership priority for our businesses, while reducing flaring is a significantly higher priority for our production businesses where flare levels are higher.

Wherever we operate, we meet local regulations for environmental performance, and where there are no local regulations, we operate to standards that we believe are protective of the environment. We base these standards on sound science and comprehensive risk assessments. For example, ExxonMobil Development Company, which manages ExxonMobil’s major new upstream projects worldwide, developed Environmental Standards for nitrogen oxides emissions, offshore drill cuttings discharges, flare and venting reduction, water management, waste management, and land use. These Standards allow us to identify environmental improvement opportunities early in project planning when they can be implemented most effectively.