Registration Document 2005 - Total.com

Environment
Pursuant to French Law 2001-420 of May 15, 2001, TOTAL S.A.
must provide information regarding the social and environmental
consequences of its activities. Under the implementing decree of
February 20, 2002, this information must include details about the
environmental objectives of its foreign subsidiaries.
The following discussion provides information about the
environmental policy objectives proposed by the parent company.
More detailed environmental information does not seem relevant
for this discussion, given the nature of the activities of the holding
company and of the Group.
The TOTAL Group operates projects in over 130 countries, in
areas as diverse as upstream and downstream oil and gas, energy
production and chemicals. The special social and environment
report titled “Sharing Our Energy” provides in the environmental
section detailed information on how the various entities of the
Group conduct their environmental policies. It reports on the
environmental consequences of those activities, describes and
explains their qualitative and quantitative impacts, details the
actions taken and presents the environmental performance of the
entire Group, as well as the commitments that the Group has made
or is planning to make.
The Safety, Environmental and Quality Charter is now a benchmark
in the Group’s corporate culture, and demonstrates its commitment
to operational safety, personal health, environmental protection, and
the quality of its products and services. This Charter, which has
been translated into several languages, must be implemented on
the basis of the operational realities of each of our businesses.
It is based on ten principles, which are explained in a user’s guide
designed to assist managers in implementing those principles in the
performance of their daily duties.
The ten principles are organized into three themes: the industrial
activity itself, employees, and third parties.
• with respect to industrial activity, no development project,
no extension of an industrial unit, no launch of a new product
may be started in any country in which a Group subsidiary
operates without a preliminary and detailed analysis of the safety,
health and environmental risks conducted by the operational
branch in question. Consideration of those risks and the adoption
of the necessary prevention, correction and compensation
measures is verified when the project is reviewed by the business
divisions involved. Major investment, acquisition and disposal
projects are reviewed by the Group Executive Committee
and must first be presented for an opinion to the Group Risk
Committee. This Committee includes a representative from the
Sustainable Development and Environment Department and a
representative from the Industrial Safety Department.
Appendix 3 - TOTAL S.A.
Employment and environmental information
TOTAL - Registration Document 2005
11
This risk evaluation and prevention procedure is based on
scientific analyses of the substances used and produced and
their effects, environmental impact studies, and technological risk
studies, conducted in accordance with the regulations in force in
the countries where we operate and with industry standards. In
recent years, the Committee has attached increased importance
to analyses involving health risks, and is progressively including in
such analyses the issue of the end of the useful life of products and
facilities. Special attention is also now paid to biological diversity,
particularly in very sensitive ecological zones that have been
identified with the assistance of scientific organizations.
Consideration of these various scientific and technical aspects
in the decision-making process is based on preliminary studies.
Projects to harmonize the methodologies used to conduct these
preliminary studies are currently in progress within the divisions.
After the startup of the project, the evaluation and prevention step
is repeated regularly throughout the project in order to verify that
the environmental impacts and safety risks are as low as possible.
Pursuant to the Safety, Environmental and Quality Charter, the goals
of prevention are to reduce discharges of polluting substances
into the atmosphere and water, to reduce the consumption of
water and certain raw materials, to improve energy efficiency, to
reduce waste production on the sites, and to recycle the wastes
that are produced. In 2005, each division set certain quantitative
goals to improve its environmental performance, and transposed
them to site-level based on the specific features of each site. The
commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions set in 2001
were met in 2004; the establishment in 2005 of the European CO 2
quota trading system is a new step in the policy to fight global
warming, which represents a true technological challenge for
the Group. The reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and the
corresponding actions are described in detail in the aforementioned
social and environmental report by the Group.
Special attention is also paid to soil and underground water
contamination, with special programs to evaluate risks and
clean-up. Studies to coordinate assessment methodologies and
the criteria used to develop cleanup action plans are currently in
progress.
In addition to this prevention policy, each operational entity of the
Group must establish its own resources and emergency response
plans in the event of accidents. These measures are regularly
updated and checked by the relevant Environmental and Safety
departments, and opportunities to share experience are organized
on a regular basis. These policies to prevent and fight the effects
of any accidents are not only applied to industrial sites but also to
the transport of hazardous materials, which is covered by similar
measures and methodologies.
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