Corporate Responsibility

We believe in offering our time and expertise in addition to financial support, and hope to maintain meaningful partnerships with the charitable organisations with which we are involved. We are constantly researching new ways to become more proactively involved in the communities we are part of, and recognise that business and community are intrinsically connected. Specific examples of Dana’s partnerships and contributions are:

• The company has for many years now supported The Aberdeen Foyer, a highly respected charity established in 1995 to prevent and alleviate homelessness amongst vulnerable 16 – 25 year olds in North East Scotland. Dana makes an annual donation to the organisation.
• In 2010 the company was introduced to VSA Young Carers Project, a service aimed at supporting hugely deserving young people who, as a result of the dedication to the well being of family members, often miss out on the fun, excitement and learning curves of childhood. Dana fund week long respite adventure holidays for the young carers each summer, and hope to offer the personal and professional skill set of our staff as and when needed in the future.
• Another recently formed partnership is with Transition Extreme, a Social Enterprise that doubles as a world class extreme sports facility. Transition boasts a climbing wall, BMX biking, skateboarding and in line skating park as well as space used for Martial Arts and a café. The value created from these activities is used to support the social enterprise, which aims to engage young people into maximising their potential with music, art and extreme sports. We worked closely with the team at Transition to come up with the idea for a Community Access Project, where young people from Aberdeen’s seven most disadvantaged areas have the opportunity to use the facilities and have instruction free of charge. Dana and Sport Scotland fund the initiative entirely.
• Financial support for local sporting clubs to encourage and facilitate healthy life choices for children and young adults as well as support for local residents seeking sponsorship for extremely challenging charitable activities.
• Fielding of a team in the annual ‘BG Egypt Challenge’, organised by CARE. Not only did they enjoy a superb team-building experience, but they also raised $15,000 towards CARE’s work in Upper Egypt.
• Local support for NGOs and schools in the villages neighbouring the onshore drilling location in Morocco.
• Following discovery of possible burial mounds along the transportation route to our onshore Taj-1 well at Bouanane, Morocco, Dana committed to support the archaeological mapping of those cultural sites.
• Norway donations continued Dana’s focus on healthy lifestyles for children, funding the purchase of musical instruments for local school bands, equipment for local football clubs, a bandy team and a water polo club. Donations also funded training for a local dance group, altogether engaging several hundred children.
• The Company also continues to support staff who are actively involved in charitable organisations and activities including local football and swimming clubs, organising local fun runs and charity balls.

Over the past few years, Dana increased its focus on the issue of carbon emissions and their impact on global climate change. As most of Dana’s interests are in assets operated by others its direct carbon emissions are relatively low, hence the opportunities for mitigation are limited. However, Dana has undertaken a number of initiatives in relation to carbon emissions as follows:

• Improved video-conferencing facilities in Aberdeen and encouragement to use video and tele-conferencing will lower carbon emissions with the added benefit of reducing staff travel and their time away from the office and home.
• Carbon offsetting of business flights across the Group. Emissions were calculated at 275.2 tonnes of carbon and 295.3 tonnes of carbon dioxide during 2010. To offset this impact and also provide additional positive investment, 715 trees were purchased through the Carbon Footprint initiative for tree planting in Kenya. This supports Dana’s environmental values and actively promotes sustainability to local communities in an area which may otherwise be challenged.
• Since 2009 Dana has been involved in the Carbon Disclosure project. Even though the company is no longer publically listed and not obligated to do so, Dana will continue to offset its emissions.
• Risk assessment of potential impact of climate change on the Company’s business.
• The Company also commits to achieving efficiency gains wherever possible including ongoing participation in projects in Egypt to convert to gas power generation from diesel generation, drilling of water wells to minimise transportation of water to production sites and, in the UK, seeking to further reduce oil in produced water from the Hudson facilities.

Now that Dana is part of a wider organisation, the company hopes to expand upon their community involvement and corporate philanthropy to include more sustainable and innovative projects. It is a major priority going forward to conduct comprehensive research into the primary issues affecting the communities we are part of, and identify how we can interact with other public and private sector organisations to form a cohesive platform from which to address these issues. Some of the areas we will be focussing on over the coming year are sustainable communities, education and services aimed at people with disabilities.

As Dana grows and develops, the Company and its employees recognise their collective and individual responsibilities as corporate citizens. This has created a strong corporate culture underpinned by ethical values which we apply wherever we operate and with whomever we meet. Dana now operates in seven countries, employing national staff and carrying out work activities close to local communities. The Company recognises the potential impact of its presence and takes its responsiblities to people and their living environments very seriously.