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Acorn

International

AcornNotes

Issue No. 6 February 2008

Acorn International is pleased to present findings of our third annual study of industry’s stated sustainable

development (SD) priorities

1

. In 2008 we continued our review of trends in evolving SD priorities of a sample of

companies, NGOs and the business press. We also look again for potential indications of relationships between

stakeholder interests (those priorities reported by NGOs and business press) and priorities of oil and gas and

other industry companies. Sample methods and sources are described below

2

.

Industry SD Priorities

While climate change remains a consistent priority for oil and gas and other industry companies reviewed, the

sample suggests a variation in priorities between oil and gas, other industry and NGOs as well as variation in

priorities within each grouping from year to year.

Note: Percentages indicate the ratio of selected companies or NGOs listing a particular issue as a priority, in proportion to all companies/NGOs

selected for the sample (e.g., 100% of the oil and gas companies reviewed cited climate change as a priority.) “NA" indicates that these issues

are considered to be specifically excluded from the (environmental) scope of the NGOs surveyed.

•

Biodiversity was increasingly cited as a priority SD issue in 2007 by oil and gas companies – nearly all

companies reviewed now list biodiversity as a priority is sue. The other industry company sample indicated an

increase in those listing biodiversity as a priority, though it is still identified by less than half of those companies

reviewed. NGOs appeared to place less focus on biodiversity in 2007 than in previous years, with less than half

identifying this issue as a priority.

•

Like biodiversity, the issue of human rights has become recognized as a priority by nearly all oil and gas

companies surveyed. It remains a priority issue for about half of the other industry representatives.

•

Community engagement is more commonly listed as a priority issue for other industry companies than for oil and

gas companies. Nearly all other industry representatives identify community engagement as a priority issue,

compared with only half of those in the oil and gas industry.

•

The issue of water resources was a priority for approximately half of all companies and NGOs surveyed.

The minor decrease in water resources as a priority issue is particularly noteworthy in contrast to findings of press

coverage priorities, reported below.

Comparison with Business and Financial Press SD Priorities

Acorn analyzed the most commonly-cited SD issues reported in a sample of 2007 business and financial publications

and compared these to results from previous years using the same methodology. As in prior years, Acorn seeks to

answer the question of whether there is a correlation indicating influence of press over industry (or vice versa) in

stated SD priorities.

Figure 1A shows the distribution of articles dedicated to the SD company priorities discussed previously, plus the

potentially emerging issues of forests and fisheries. Figure 1B shows the percentage of the ten publications

reviewed in which the same issues were the most commonly cited. Figure 2 shows the trended percentage of

selected SD issues that were most often referenced as key words in articles appearing in these publications during

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