OUR APPROACH TO SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainability underpins our vision of being a leading North American oil and natural gas producer. It represents our focus on efficiency, disciplined capital allocation and financial strength, as well as our commitment to environmental, social and governance progress – operating safely, lowering emissions, reducing our environmental footprint and supporting our social commitment.
We have a long track record of transparency – this marks our 19th year of sustainability reporting. We are committed to driving progress and have integrated environmental, social and governance considerations throughout our business.
To enable that integration, our Board and executive leadership team shape our environment, social and governance strategy and are focused on ensuring our business remains sustainable. This means continuing to take action to deliver returns and strengthen our balance sheet while making progress on environmental, social and governance matters. We are committed to making real and tangible progress on these matters, as demonstrated by our Company scorecard. By linking employee and executive compensation to operational, financial, safety and emissions reduction results, we ensure that every team member is invested in continuous improvement across our organization.
At Ovintiv, every day presents an opportunity to innovate, do things differently and make improvements. We have established high standards for environment, social and governance performance through our policies and programs, and our employees have embraced this approach. Our performance is the result of a world-class team united in pursuit of driving innovation to produce oil and natural gas profitably and sustainably.
Our Approach to Reporting
Ovintiv strives to strengthen our disclosures through ongoing monitoring of various sustainability disclosure standards, climate policy scenario analysis and climate-related performance targets tied to our compensation program.
We reference the following standards and frameworks to inform our reporting:
- Sustainable Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Oil and Gas Standard
- Ipieca Sustainability Reporting Guidance for the Oil and Gas Industry
- Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) framework
The TCFD disclosure framework was developed to help interested parties understand potential material risks associated with climate-related matters. TCFD structured its recommendations in four categories that represent core elements of how organizations operate: governance, risk management, strategy and metrics and targets. In October 2023, the TCFD was disbanded and the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) which is part of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation will take over monitoring of companies’ progress in implementing climate-related financial disclosures. The TCFD recommendations are being incorporated into various sustainability disclosure standards around the globe and remain relevant for Ovintiv’s reporting. References to TCFD included in this report refer to the historical framework.
Reviewing Ipieca, SASB and TCFD standards, and engaging with investors and environment, social and governance research and ratings agencies, helps us enhance our disclosures and report them in a relevant and useful way to stakeholders. Our full disclosure index is available here.
Reporting Boundary
Unless otherwise specified or the context otherwise requires, references to Ovintiv, we, its, our or to the Company includes reference to subsidiaries of and partnership interests held by Ovintiv Inc. and its subsidiaries. The scope of our sustainability reporting includes all assets where Ovintiv was the operator of record or permittee at December 31, 2023. Ovintiv is the operator for >95% of our production volumes. In June 2023, Ovintiv closed the acquisition of core Midland Basin assets and the sale of its Bakken assets. This report includes partial year data for the acquired assets.
We continuously look for opportunities to improve our data management practices and methodologies to provide transparency, consistency and accuracy. As such, historical information is subject to change. Unless otherwise specified, all dollar amounts are expressed in U.S. dollars, all references to dollars, $ or US$ are to U.S. dollars and all references to C$ are to Canadian dollars.
GHG emissions in British Columbia and Alberta are verified by a third party as part of certain emissions reporting requirements by the provincial governments.
United Nations Sustainability Goals
Ipieca, the global oil and gas association for advancing environmental and social performance, partnered with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development to develop a shared understanding of how the oil and natural gas industry impacts the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This partnership created a roadmap for how our sector can support these goals and contribute to a healthier and more prosperous world.
The UN SDGs are a blueprint for global partnership. Although the SDGs include 17 goals ranging from ending poverty to preserving oceans, Ipieca identified 10 that are most impacted by the oil and natural gas industry.
A few examples of Ovintiv’s contribution to the SDGs include:
- Good Health and Well-being – Ovintiv committed $10.2 million to local children’s hospitals in the communities where we operate.
- Clean Water and Sanitation – We developed water resource hubs in our Canadian and Permian operations to recycle water from our operations and conserve fresh water.
- Decent Work and Economic Growth – Ovintiv offers market-competitive pay and benefits and fosters the next generation of talent through our New Graduate Program and apprenticeships.
- Climate Action – We delivered on our methane emissions intensity reduction target and continue to progress our roadmap to meeting our Scope 1 & 2 GHG emissions intensity reduction target.
- Life on Land – We follow a rigorous site assessment program to help ensure sustainable management of land and water resources, wildlife and habitats during our operational cycle.