Case study: How Halliburton promotes sustainability across its supply chain
Halliburton is one of the world’s leading oilfield service providers, helping its customers maximise value throughout their asset life cycles. Halliburton requires the same high standards of corporate citizenship throughout its supply chain as in its global operations Tweet This!, by striving to maximise the positive economic and social impacts of its value chain while minimising environmental impacts.
This case study is based on the 2019 Annual & Sustainability Report by Halliburton published on the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Disclosure Database that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate what CSR/ ESG/ sustainability reporting done responsibly means. Essentially, it means: a) identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment, economy and society, and b) measuring, managing and changing.
Abstract
Halliburton’s supplier expectations are clearly stated in its Supplier Ethics Letter and training on topics including health, safety and environment (HSE) standards, human rights and conflict mineral compliance is also provided to its suppliers, to make sure they meet Halliburton’s standards. In order to promote sustainability across its supply chain Halliburton took action to:
- promote conflict mineral compliance
- combat modern slavery and human trafficking
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With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) Halliburton has identified;
- How Halliburton proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by Halliburton to promote sustainability across its supply chain
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What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2019 Annual & Sustainability Report Halliburton identified a range of material issues, such as health, safety and wellness, corporate governance, business ethics and transparency, climate change, information security/data management. Among these, promoting sustainability across its supply chain stands out as a key material issue for Halliburton.
Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:
Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.
Key stakeholder groups Halliburton engages with:
Stakeholder Group | Method of engagement |
Shareholders & analysts | · Annual reporting · Shareholder meetings · Quarterly conference calls · Regular meetings and conference calls with analysts, institutional investors and others |
Customers | · Collaborating directly on developing new technologies |
Employees
| · Training programmes · Quarterly check-ins · Semi-annual Pulse survey · Employee groups · Regular development reviews |
Suppliers | · Workshops and meetings |
Government
| · The Halliburton Government Affairs function works with government officials to provide in-depth information on operations, examine emerging technologies and contribute to the discussion on regulatory standards |
Industry associations
| · Across Halliburton, business groups engage with relevant associations with respect to ESG issues by participating in a wide variety of committees and working groups |
Communities & non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
| · Volunteer activities · Halliburton Foundation · Donations · Ad hoc meetings with NGO groups to discuss key issues |
How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues
To identify and prioritise material topics Halliburton collected feedback from over 74 stakeholders, including employees, customers, shareholders, suppliers, government, trade associations and community organisations, through a survey.
What actions were taken by Halliburton to promote sustainability across its supply chain?
In its 2019 Annual & Sustainability Report Halliburton reports that it took the following actions for promoting sustainability across its supply chain:
- Promoting conflict mineral compliance
- Halliburton’s suppliers are required to provide Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) conflict-free materials to Halliburton, and to furnish information to assist in determining that work provided to Halliburton is DRC conflict-free and to respond to requests for information on sources of supply. These requirements support Halliburton’s commitment to the Responsible Minerals Initiative and its compliance with Section 1502 of the United States Dodd-Frank Act. In 2019, a total of 1,294 suppliers were identified as in-scope and contacted as part of the Conflict Minerals campaign. Halliburton removed suppliers from its approved supplier base who did not cooperate with its Dodd-Frank compliance requirements.
- Combating modern slavery and human trafficking
- Halliburton performs due diligence, in several ways, on suppliers with respect to modern slavery and human trafficking and communicates its supplier expectations regarding human rights through the Supplier Ethics Letter and the Supplier Ethics Statement. Halliburton requires suppliers to contractually commit to protect and uphold the fundamental human rights of their employees as stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To ensure compliance, Halliburton conducts an evaluation of its highest-spend suppliers on an annual basis. In 2019, Halliburton enhanced the supplier evaluation process to include an assessment of its suppliers’ policies and procedures regarding forced labour and human trafficking, wage deductions, and timely and accurate payment of wages for all workers. Halliburton’s goal is to conduct business with suppliers who share its commitment to ethical operations.
Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?
The GRI Standards addressed in this case are:
1) Disclosure 308-1 New suppliers that were screened using environmental criteria
2) Disclosure 308-2 Negative environmental impacts in the supply chain and actions taken
3) Disclosure 414-1 New suppliers that were screened using social criteria
Disclosure 308-1 New suppliers that were screened using environmental criteria does not correspond to any SDG.
Disclosure 308-2 Negative environmental impacts in the supply chain and actions taken does not correspond to any SDG.
Disclosure 414-1 New suppliers that were screened using social criteria corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5: Gender Equality
- Targets: 5.2
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
- Targets: 8.8
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
- Targets: 16.1
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References:
1) This case study is based on published information by Halliburton, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original, please revert to the original on the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Disclosure Database at the link:
http://database.globalreporting.org/
2) https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/
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