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| Sustainable development review Pages | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
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| “My challenge to Sasol is to move from our comfort zone of focusing on delivering financial profits, to a zone where we make not only financial profits, which remains vitally important, but also provide gains for our people and benefits for our country and our planet.” Pat Davies – Sasol chief executive |
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 At Sasol, our commitment to sustainable development is
fundamental to our core vision and an integral part of our goal
of being a globally respected, world-class company characterised
by values-driven leadership.
In addition to upholding the values-driven basis for promoting sustainable development, we are also convinced that sustainability yields an important competitive advantage. We believe that it enhances the reputation of our business, contributes to our goal of being a global company of choice and results in improved longer term business performance through more effective risk management practices.
In this section of the annual review we provide a summary of our activities and performance relating to the social, economic and environmental issues that have a material impact on our core business. Amore detailed review of our sustainability performance is provided in our separate sustainable development report, available online at www.sasol.com. The separate report includes a specific focus on some of our most material sustainability challenges, most notably climate change, safety, skills development and black economic empowerment (BEE). |
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| 2007 performance highlights |
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Continuing improvements in our overall safety performance. |
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19% reduction in recordable case rate. |
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Success in rolling out our values-driven leadership programme. |
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Significant improvement in our stakeholder relationships. |
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Continuing strong financial performance, providing the foundation for our
sustainability performance. |
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Progress in implementing our energy efficiency initiatives. |
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Progressing BEE deals, including Eyesizwe Coal and Siyanda Biodiesel. |
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Significant community investments through our corporate social
investment programmes. |
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| 2007 performance disappointments |
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Four work-related fatalities. |
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Increase in transportation incidents. |
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Increase in number of reportable fires, explosions and releases. |
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| Key focus areas |
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Further entrenching a shift in behaviour and attitude towards safety. |
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Managing our global greenhouse gas emissions. |
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Developing, attracting and retaining the talent to meet our growth objectives. |
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Promoting meaningful BEE throughout our operations and within our sphere
of influence (South African operations). |
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Ensuring access to water to meet long-term growth plans. |
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| Material safety, health and environmental (SH&E) risks at Sasol |
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This table identifies Sasol’s material SH&E risks and briefly describes the measures in place to address these risks.
Each risk has been identified through
formal internal risk assessment procedures undertaken with input from our operations. The following list constitutes a subset of the group-wide risks
that are described, for example, in terms of the Form 20-F and related reporting requirements of the US Securities and Exchange Commission. |
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| Risk |
Summary of measures taken to address the risk |
| Major fire, explosion or release of hazardous gas or vapour. |
All Sasol sites have identified and quantified their major risks in these categories.
Specific mitigation measures and contingency plans have been drawn up and, where required, agreed with relevant authorities. Site risks, as well as mitigation and contingency plans, are reviewed as part of SH&E corporate governance audits. A comprehensive safety improvement plan is being implemented. |
| Major shipping or transport incident (fire, explosion, emission, spillage or gas pipeline rupture). |
In most cases, responsibility to manage these emergencies lies with third parties.
Where Sasol uses third-party logistics service providers, we assess compliance with specific requirements. In addition, we provide material safety data sheets, information and advice using global emergency call centres. A group-wide target has been set to achieve at least a 50% reduction in the number of significant logistics incidents per ton of product transported, on the 2004 baseline, by July 2009. |
| Climate change poses a significant challenge for our business. |
We have a policy statement on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A group-wide target has been set to achieve at least a 10% reduction in GHG emissions per ton of product, on the 2005 baseline, by July 2015. This reduction will be facilitated by switching feedstock at new and existing facilities and improving more energy-and carbon-efficient technologies.
New coal-to-liquids (CTL) and gas-to-liquids (GTL) plants will be designed for significant reductions in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and allowing for CO2 sequestration. We have the opportunity to make significant savings by energy efficiency improvements and to use carbon credits. We have recently registered a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project for the reduction of nitrous oxide emissions from our Sasol Nitro operations in South Africa, which will reduce emissions equivalent to about one million tons of carbon dioxide a year. Other projects, including potential CDM projects, are underway that will result in emissions reductions. |
| Changes in environmental laws (especially air, water and waste), resulting in higher costs of compliance. |
In South Africa, a new Air Quality Act has been promulgated, bringing South Africa into line with international requirements for air emissions. Minimum requirements based on World Bank standards or local legislation (whichever is the more stringent) have been adopted for all new projects. We maintain a working relationship with government departments in all the major regions in which we operate. |
| The potential health impact of long-term exposure to harmful chemicals. |
Operational personnel are subject to annual medical evaluations and are provided with personal protective equipment and necessary training. A new group-wide target has been set to achieve at least a 50% reduction in the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), by July 2015. |
| Inherent SH&E risks in technology development (R&D, concept, design, construction and commissioning). |
Provision is made for lower risk technologies and cleaner production approaches in new project design. Hazard operability studies and quantitative risk assessment are used. Additional classification tools and checklists are being developed for further improvement. |
| Implementation of tighter product regulations, such as new fuel regulations in South Africa, and new chemicals legislation in Europe. |
Significant progress has been made in implementing product-related initiatives relating, for example, to cleaner fuels and to compliance with the EU legislation on the Registration, Evaluation, and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH). The impact of other countries’en the new regulations are available. |
| Availability of skills and competence to design, construct, operate and maintain plants. |
Programmes are being developed to upgrade the professional and artisan training programmes in South Africa, to provide further training to Sasol employees through in-house programmes and external institutions, to stimulate recruitment globally, and to leverage external resources. |
| Natural disasters and epidemics or pandemics (eg SARS, avian influenza). |
Business units review existing business continuity planning in anticipation of threats of various sorts. Probability and potential to disrupt business are key parameters. |
| Environmental liabilities due to pastcontamination (eg, mine water, air emissions and contaminated groundwater). |
Sasol Technology has developed a group-wide approach to identifying and quantifying environmental liabilities in South Africa. This project will take several years to complete.
The EU and USA site liabilities were well characterised during the due diligence process, with relatively low residual risk. Ongoing work is being taken to remediate contaminated land throughout our South African operations. Our goal is to prevent future contamination and address all historical issues. |
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