Stakeholder Engagement

Japan

We engage with local stakeholders in Japan through the community engagement teams we have established at our operational sites in Niigata, Minami-Aga, Nagaoka, Kashiwazaki, Naoetsu, Akita, and Chiba.

In recent years, we have actively participated in community events, including providing sponsorship and volunteer support for a marathon in Kashiwazaki. We also sponsor firework displays at summer festivals in Niigata, Nagaoka, Kashiwazaki, Naoetsu and Akita, and help to protect the environment by collaborating with residents of Nagaoka in a semiannual reforestation project (due to COVID-19 impacts, some events were cancelled in 2020 and 2021, and may be cancelled again in 2022).

Naoetsu LNG Terminal—the core facility of our gas supply chain and the receiving terminal for LNG shipped from Ichthys LNG in Australia—publishes a bimonthly newsletter for local residents, municipal offices, and government agencies to inform them on the terminal’s operations, safety efforts, and other matters. Our employees also interact with community residents by taking part in local activities such as softball tournaments.

Australia

During 2021, we continued to work closely with key stakeholders in Australia to minimize impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business and to protect the safety and well-being of our personnel and the communities in which we operate. While COVID-19 restrictions prevented some face-to-face meetings, we maintained regular and proactive engagement with stakeholders through virtual meetings, phone calls and e-mails.

More than 300 engagements with government, industry, business, and community stakeholders were held in FY2021, and focused on updates on Ichthys LNG’s operational activities and opportunities for communities including employment, business, and community investment.³

3 Community engagement in the Northern Territory

Indonesia

We strive to maintain productive communication with the stakeholders we have identified for the Abadi LNG Project in Indonesia, not only the local residents and others directly impacted by our project operations, but also NGOs and the central and local governments. As part of this commitment, we station employees who were raised in the areas surrounding the operating sites in those locations, so they can directly support our efforts to maintain active dialogue with those communities.

Through this dialogue, we became aware that one local community was having difficulty securing access to clean drinking water. Following talks with representatives of the community and local government, we responded by developing and launching the “Clean & Healthy Behavior Program”. This initiative aims to establish a community water tank and pipeline network so that clean drinking water can be supplied to every household. Instead of directly building the water system, we are advancing this effort under a model of community-based participation and involvement.

Regarding the environmental and social impact assessment currently underway, we developed a Stakeholder Engagement and Public Consultation Plan (SECP) ahead of the public consultations for local residents that are held as part of the Indonesian Environmental and Social Impact Assessment process (AMDAL). The SECP goes beyond the requirements of AMDAL to incorporate stakeholder engagement requirements stipulated in the IFC Performance Standards (IFC PS). We are implementing initiatives in accordance with the SECP.

Our stakeholder engagements at each process of the environmental and social impact assessment are summarized in the table below.