About this Report
Petrobras is publishing its Sustainability Report for the first time. It is the consolidation of the Annual Report, which featured the operating and economic performance highlights of the year, and the Social and Environmental Report, a publication through which the company rendered accounts on its performance from the perspective of sustainability.
In this report, we present information to our stakeholders about our performance as a whole, reflecting the integration among the three pillars of our corporate strategy: growth, profitability, and social responsibility. It is also an statement of the progress we have made in meeting the ten principles of the Global Compact, which we are signatories of.
The report will be published annually, and this issue is for the period ranging from January 1 to December 31, 2009.
The most recent previous reports - the Annual Report and the Social and Environmental Report - were published in June 2009 and the information they contain refers to 2008.
Get to know Petrobras' commitment to the Global Compact.
This report was prepared pursuant to the latest version of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines, known as G3. It is in accordance to the A+ application level, appropriate for reports that provide information on all key indicators under the guidelines and the content of which is submitted to external verification. In 2009, this verification was done by KPMG Auditores Independentes.
See the KPMG statement on the
2009 Sustainability Report.
See the GRI table of contents.
The commission in charge of preparing and assessing social and environmental responsibility reports is responsible for the drafting process of the Sustainability Report. It is composed of representatives from 24 areas and subsidiaries of the Petrobras System, which consolidate the information compiled by a network of collaborators, which, in 2009, totaled 290 people. The data are entered in a computerized system and are used as input to prepare the report’s content, which is validated by the commission before being published.
To determine issue relevance and assist in content selection, Petrobras has consulted representatives of its 13 strategic stakeholders in three Brazilian cities: Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Salvador. In total, 213 people were consulted, including members of the commission in charge of preparing and assessing social and environmental responsability reports. The purpose of this consultation, known as the Materiality Test, was to get to know the stakeholders’ perspective and compare it with that of Petrobras in order to structure a matrix that reflected the issues that were priority to both parties (chart below).
| QUADRANT | AVERAGE ASSESSMENT | DESCRIPTION | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| STAKEHOLDERS | PETROBRAS | |||
| 4 | => 5 | => 5 | These issues are important for the business and are given priority in the report. |
|
| 3 | < 3,50 | < 3,50 | These issues are important, but not critical, and are reported according to specific demands. |
|
| 2 | => 3.50 | => 3.50 | ||
| 1 | < 3.50 | < 3.50 | These issues are important, but not critical, and are reported according to specific demands. |
|
Level of importance of the topics for the stakeholders: influence of the economic, social, and environmental impacts
2
4
1
3
Level of importance of the topics for the company: influence of the economic, social, and environmental impacts.
In addition to the Materiality Test, we consulted 109 people in the same cities, plus 19 representatives of the committee in charge of preparing and assessing social and environmental responsibility reports, to assess the 2008 Social and Environmental Report and single-out improvements to be made in the current report.
Soon, more information about the Test of Materiality.
Over and beyond to information regarding the GRI indicators, this report presents data that compose the Social Report - Ibase Model. The criteria required by the Brazilian Association of Publicly Traded Corporations (Abrasca) to grant the Abrasca Annual Report Awards also serve to guide the content of this report.
WHO DID WE PREPARE THE SUSTAINABILITY REPORT FOR?
Petrobras expects the report to allow all of its stakeholders to get to know and assess its performance in the economic, social, and environmental areas during the year. The groups that make up Petrobras’ strategic stakeholders are featured in the Communication Channels chapter.
Questions, suggestions and criticisms of this report should be e-mailed to rs2009@petrobras.com.br.
Scope of the report
Companies and subsidiaries reported in this report:
- Petrobras in Brazil and in the other 27 countries where it has operations (1)
- Petrobras Distribuidora
- Petrobras Química S. A. (Petroquisa)
- Petrobras Biocombustível
- Petrobras Transporte S. A. (Transpetro)
- Refinaria Alberto Pasqualini (Refap)(2)
- Liquigás
(1) Does not include thermoelectric plants the company controls indirectly.
(2) Controlled together with Repsol YPF and not included among Petrobras’ refineries.
These companies and subsidiaries were selected based on the following criteria: participation in management and control and organization representativeness in Petrobras’ results.
Information disclosed in previous reports may appear reformulated in this publication, and changes may have been made at data measurement methods. In such cases, an explanation regarding these changes appears next to the data to facilitate understanding.
The merger of the Annual Report and the Social and Environmental Report into this Report caused structural changes in this document, which now includes elements of both publications. Nevertheless, no significant change was made to the scope or coverage compared to the previous report.
Captions in the report
Throughout the pages of this report or in the GRI table of contents, the readers will find some marks that will help them find content, associate it to the indicator or corresponding principle, and to know where to find more information about a particular topic. Those are:
- Learn more in chapter
: an indication regarding where to find more information on a given subject in the report. - Learn more at the site
: link to a Petrobras page on the Internet where the topic is presented or detailed. - Some additional information can be found in the investor relations website: www.petrobras.com.br/ri.
- Global Compact Icon: appears next to the chapters corresponding to Petrobras actions to meet a certain principle of the Global Compact.
- GRI indicators: in the GRI table of contents, the schedule shows, next to the indicator, the description of the theme to which it refers and information on the chapter where the theme is presented.