Biodiversity

The material topic consists of managing biodiversity risks and impacts, seeking to avoid and minimize impacts, such as changes in air of ecosystems quality and loss of fauna and flora, and when this is not possible, recover and/or compensate for residual impacts in line with the mitigation hierarchy, throughout the life cycle of the projects. It includes programs and projects for environmental protection and restoration, contributing to the conservation and improvement of biodiversity and ecosystem services, especially in areas of high biodiversity value in terrestrial and especially marine environments, due to the greater activity in this biome.

The World Economic Forum, in its 2023 report on global risks, pointed to the loss of biodiversity and the collapse of ecosystems as the fourth greatest risk in the next 10 years, considering also that more than half of the world’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (USD 44 trillion) is moderately or highly dependent on nature.

The 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP15), held in 2022, resulted in the Kunming-Montreal agreement, setting new global goals for 2030, such as the restoration of 30% of the planet’s degraded ecosystems. These significant steps confirm the global community’ s recognition that the risks associated with loss of nature, energy generation and climate change cannot be completely mitigated in isolation. In this context, there is a growing increase in stakeholder demands and requirements for biodiversity, a trend that is already reflected in a more proactive posture by industries in the oil and gas sector.

In line with the growing external demands of stakeholders, we reaffirm, within the scope of our Strategic Plan 2023-2027 (SP 2023-27), our Environmental, Social and Governance Commitment (ESG) to biodiversity, of having 100% of our facilities with Biodiversity Action Plans by 2025, detailing their scope to include pressing demands on the topic. Complementarily, we reported our social commitment to develop impact initiatives that contribute to the solution of environmental problems.

Thus, as illustrated in the figure below, we highlighted the search for biodiversity improvement in our areas of operation, contributing to the increase in the quantity and variety of fauna and flora, providing more ecosystem services, including the mitigation of climate change and provision of water, with the consequent reduction of risks to the business, whether regulatory, economic, or reputational. This component of the commitment, related to the prevention of deforestation and recovery of vegetated areas, is in line with the Decade of Ecosystem Restoration, decreed by the United Nations (UN), in addition to the search for a positive balance of nature, advocated by the new Global Biodiversity Framework.