Human Rights as a Sustainability Goal
Authors: Carpenter Chris 
Published: April 2020

Editor’s Note: The oil and gas industry is under public scrutiny on a host of health, safety, environmental, and sustainability issues. These concerns affect how companies operate and interact with the public. This series sheds light on how the industry is actively addressing these challenges now and in its goals for the future.

As has been pointed out before in JPT and elsewhere, “sustainability” is a multifaceted word. The industry has seen the risks inherent in each upstream sector defining the word in narrow ways. These multiple perspectives are a natural result of a global scope, despite a growing ability of the parts to work in harmony, especially during a time when unity in the face of the challenge posed by the COVID-19 pandemic is a necessity. Nevertheless, social responsibility remains a critical component of any drive to achieve sustainability. Central to social responsibility is the notion of safeguarding human rights, an idea seldom mentioned specifically in the literature.

Three recent SPE conference papers, however, prove that this concept remains prominent in the minds of industry professionals. Two papers discuss the importance of guaranteeing the respect of human rights along the supply chain, where developing-world labor is at particular risk of being preyed upon without recourse to justice. A third paper links the human rights aspects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to the broader idea of sustainability by explaining the benefits of institutionalized transparency in reporting the social impact of oil and gas operations. All authors argue that from both ethical and economic perspectives, human rights are a key component of sustainability.

Petronas authors provide an overview of the implementation of human rights measures in the operator’s supply chain since the establishment of the company’s Human Rights Commitment in 2015 (SPE 195408). It involved embed-ding relevant human rights elements throughout the entire supply chain management process, starting from contractor licensing and registration to the performance evaluation of contractors at the end of the contract life cycle. The four human rights elements comprise fair and humane labor practices, security training that emphasizes avoiding the use of excessive force, the review of supply chain contractor adherence to humane practices, and the promotion of health and safety in communities involved in the supply chain. Further-more, the operator adopted a covenant the authors refer to as the Contractors’ Code of Conduct on Human Rights that is mentioned explicitly in general terms and conditions of all contracts.

The authors demonstrate that a proactive approach in managing human rights is crucial to sustaining the company’s long-term growth. The implementation of human rights in the supply chain is a continuous journey as the company develops partnerships with contractors in the future; thus, continuous collaboration between both company and contractors is key to the success of this shared commitment. This collaboration will also meet growing stakeholder expectations for the operator to safeguard human rights. The operator has emphasized the positive effects of these measures on contractors, who are empowered to understand how operationalizing human rights can benefit the industry in the long term.