The 2008 annual and sustainability report is StatoilHydro's second report following the 2007 merger between Statoil and Hydro's oil and gas division. This year, we have chosen to merge the sustainability report with the annual report to underline our view that sustainable solutions must have a business rationale. Likewise, we also believe that business decisions must take sustainability into account.
Previously, we published separate paper reports for the annual and the sustainability reports. This year, we are limiting the annual and sustainability report to the web. This has several advantages. By avoiding sending voluminous printed reports to all our shareholders we reduce our climate footprint and decrease our reporting expenditure. Secondly, the web offers communicative advantages, since the medium allows for more variation in the presentation format. We can also reach significantly more readers, and space is no longer a constraint.
This report has a dual purpose: firstly, periodic reporting for the calendar year 2008, including strategic objectives and risk/ opportunities assessment. In terms of quantity, this information makes up the core of the report, and it is presented in traditional categories such as finance, the environment, climate, social issues, human resources, safety and health. In this section, we provide you with detailed information on our past performance and strategic outlook.
Secondly, we focus our attention on the dilemma arising from the long-term increase in demand for energy, the decreasing accessibility of fossil fuel resources, and the need to curb negative climate and environmental impacts stemming from their use. As a global energy company, we feel a responsibility to be part of this discussion, and we present our view in the thematic section of the report.
Although the report is primarily designed for browsing online, we also invite you to compose your own report and download it as a PDF file in our Download Centre on the front page of the report. You can make a selection of what you find most relevant and read it sequentially as you would a book.
Our auditors, Ernst & Young, have provided assurance on the sustainability and HSE material in our report. We use Global Reporting Initiative's (GRI) guidelines for sustainability reporting.
If you have any questions about the report, please consult:
Colin HF Dobinson (Finance)
or
Anders Ystad (Sustainability)
