We have once again 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. 

This report has a dual purpose: firstly, periodic reporting for the calendar year 2009, 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 web version of 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 audited the financial statements and provided assurance on the sustainability and HSE material in our report, i.e. the chapter "Sustainable performance" including the health, safety and environment (HSE) accounting, as presented in the section "HSE accounting" and in the sub-sections "HSE performance indicators" and "Environmental data", in its online and downloadable pdf format.