At Southwestern Energy, we believe natural gas is an essential part of a lower-carbon energy future, and thanks to our focus on developing natural gas and liquids responsibly, we are well-positioned to help deliver this future.
Operating responsibly is embedded in the Formula that guides our strategy and decision-making. The goal of this Formula is to create Value+ for our stakeholders. The + sets us apart. It means that while we work to generate financial gains, our Formula keeps us grounded in our ultimate aim – to create long-term, sustainable value, including an unwavering commitment to protecting the health and safety of the environment and our employees, contractors and communities.
Approach
Our proactive approach to corporate responsibility is an integral part of our business strategy and decision-making. We believe that operating responsibly is the Right Thing to do, and it’s good business.
Health and Safety
SWN employees work side by side with our contractors as ONE Team with one goal: zero safety incidents. We achieved record safety performance in 2018, including a 79 percent decrease in recordable incidents in Northeast Appalachia and a 50 percent decrease in Southwest Appalachia compared with 2017.
Environment
We lead our industry in environmental protection by setting ambitious goals and leveraging our comprehensive environmental management system. In 2018, we continued our industry-first achievement of Fresh Water Neutral operations for the third year in a row, and we further reduced our methane intensity to a rate1 more than 96 percent below the industry average.2
Communities
SWN has a track record of creating a positive impact and generating economic opportunities in the areas where we operate. We pay close attention to community feedback and respond quickly to address concerns. We have removed 1.3 million truckloads from roads since we began operations in Appalachia in 2010, thanks to our water pipeline infrastructure, significantly reducing truck traffic impacts in local communities as well as trucking-related emissions.
Workforce
SWN values its employees and all who contribute to the work we do. Accordingly, providing a safe, healthy, respectful and fair workplace is a core value and part of who we are. In 2018, we maintained gender pay parity of 100 percent and increased the overall diversity of our workforce and the percentage of women and minorities in management positions.
Data
We report our year-over-year performance on a range of health and safety, environmental, workforce and community data.
2018 Key Highlights
0.056%
methane leak/loss rate, 96% below the industry average of 1.62%
39%
reduction in greenhouse gas emissions intensity compared with 2017
100%
of fresh water used is offset through recycling and conservation projects that return fresh water to the environment, maintaining our Fresh Water Neutral status for the third year in a row
99%
of produced water in Northeast Appalachia was recycled
0.64
ONE Team Total Recordable Injury Rate in 2018, a record low
10%
improvement in contractor Total Recordable Injury Rate, compared with 2017
$2.1 million
in total charitable giving in 20183
Our Corporate Responsibility Reporting
The information in these Responsibility webpages provides insight into SWN’s corporate responsibility (CR) strategy, goals, operations and performance in 2018 and early 2019 and serves as our annual corporate responsibility report. The content was prepared by our CR Steering Committee, with assistance from subject matter experts from across the company. It was then reviewed and approved by SWN’s executive leadership team and the Health, Safety, Environment and Corporate Responsibility Committee of the Board of Directors.
Since 2015, we have published an annual corporate responsibility report in accordance with Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines. Our reporting is also guided by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board’s standards for Oil and Gas Exploration and Production, the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures and several other reporting frameworks and scorecards relevant for our industry. This report aligns with the GRI Standards requirements at the Core level. (A separate appendix contains the GRI index and reporting boundaries.)
We are pleased to share our latest programs and performance, and we welcome your feedback.
- Methane intensity or methane leak/loss rate (mass percentage) is calculated by dividing the gigagrams of methane emissions by the oil and gas gross production (cubic feet converted to gigagrams). In accordance with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency greenhouse gas reporting requirements, assets that were divested in 2018 are not reported.
- National Energy Technology Laboratory, Timothy J. Skone, P.E., 2018, Industry Partnerships and Their Role in Reducing Natural Gas Supply Chain Greenhouse Gas Emissions.
- Charitable contributions do not include industry association fees or political contributions but do include the total contributions of SWN and its supplier/partners in certain activities and programs.