Report Jan. 8, 2024
Progressing product safety
Report Jan. 8, 2024
In this section
Approach
The products we make bring benefits to modern society, and our scientists are at the forefront of product safety research.
In addition to developing testing methods and models for company use, we collaborate with industry professionals, academic researchers, regulators, and policy makers to help ensure that the best available science informs industry product safety policy. We factor relevant health, environmental exposure, and use-data into our development process and into our communications with employees and customers to mitigate potential impacts of our products. We work to identify and manage risks associated with our products and to avoid the manufacture and sale of products that cannot meet an appropriate level of safety for people and the environment.
Our Product Safety Policy is consistent with external product safety standards, including those provided by the American Chemistry Council Product Safety Code, and is incorporated into ExxonMobil’s management systems. The primary way we communicate potential product hazards and risks to our customers is through our Product Stewardship Information Management System (PSIMS). This tool provides information on the safe handling, transport, use, and disposal of our products via safety data sheets.
Objective
Our primary focus is to identify and manage risk associated with our products and to provide the appropriate level of safety for people and the environment.
Please see our Product Safety Policy for more about our approach to health, safety, and environmental management of our products.
Management and application
Throughout the numerous product value chains, we emphasize product safety, product stewardship, regulatory compliance, and science-based product safety advocacy. This work includes communicating with customers and addressing regulatory developments, issuing safety data sheets, labeling products accurately, and supporting our customers’ safe use and disposal of our products.
Product standards
Our products, including chemicals, lubricants, and fuels, meet or exceed applicable regulations, standards, and guidelines, including:
- Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS)
- EU Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH)
- U.N. Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM)
We also apply relevant standards for product safety where no regulation or standards exist to enable communication of product safety aspects to our customers.
Safe handling
We apply safety and environmental standards in the transport of our products, and we regularly engage with industry peers and emergency responders to promote the safe transport of oil and chemical products. For example, we perform periodic risk assessments in our transportation processes to find opportunities to further mitigate risk, such as implementing new technologies like GPS or positive train control with our third-party transportation providers. We continue to improve training programs for public responders in the unlikely event of a release and have had zero work-related workforce (employee or contractor) fatalities caused by transport incidents from 2017 through 2022.
We collaborate with others to develop, evaluate, and promote the best available science to assess product safety, including the following organizations:
Performance
Our performance is monitored relative to established safety standards, and we share that information through a range of publications and communication channels, including this report.
Safety data sheets
In 2021, ExxonMobil embarked on a major upgrade of our PSIMS to improve access to and management of product safety information. The upgrade is designed to increase connectivity to formula information and supplier data. It will also enhance the interface with our manufacturing sites, improving access to product safety information. In 2022, we completed more than 1,500 product and component assessments and distributed more than 70,000 safety data sheets to customers in more than 150 countries.
Scientific journals and technical presentations
We continuously develop and publish new research. In 2022, ExxonMobil Biomedical Sciences (EMBSI) published 22 peer-reviewed scientific papers. EMBSI representatives also gave 17 technical presentations to scientific conferences, regulatory agencies, and academic institutions. Among them were the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, the Society of Toxicology, and the International Society of Exposure Sciences. A list of external publications from EMBSI scientists is available at ORCID.
Product stewardship metrics
A key internal metric to help us understand the efficacy of our product safety management system is the number of high-consequence product stewardship-related incidents. A high-consequence incident is measured through a combination of potential impacts including safety, health, environmental, and regulatory. In 2022, we continued our strong performance in our Fuels, Lubricants, and Chemicals businesses with zero high-consequence product stewardship-related incidents.
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CAUTIONARY STATEMENT RELEVANT TO FORWARD LOOKING INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSE OF THE “SAFE HARBOR” PROVISIONS OF THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995 AND OTHER IMPORTANT LEGAL DISCLAIMERS
Images or statements of future ambitions, plans, goals, events, projects, projections, opportunities, or conditions in the publications, including plans to reduce, abate, avoid or enable avoidance of emissions or reduce emissions intensity, sensitivity analyses, expectations, estimates, the development of future technologies, business plans, and sustainability efforts are dependent on future market factors, such as customer demand, continued technological progress, policy support and timely rule-making or continuation of government incentives and funding, and represent forward-looking statements. Similarly, emission-reduction roadmaps to drive toward net zero and similar roadmaps for emerging technologies and markets, and water management roadmaps to reduce freshwater intake and/or manage disposal, are forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future corporate, market or industry performance or outcomes for society and are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control or are even unknown.
Actual future results, including the achievement of ambitions to reach Scope 1 and 2 net zero from operated assets by 2050, to reach Scope 1 and 2 net zero in Upstream Permian Basin unconventional operated assets by 2030, to eliminate routine flaring in-line with World Bank Zero Routine Flaring, to reach near zero methane emissions from operated assets and other methane initiatives, to meet greenhouse gas emission reduction plans or goals, divestment and start-up plans, and associated project plans; technology advances including in the timing and outcome of projects to capture and store CO2 supply lower-emission fuels, produce hydrogen, produce lithium, obtain data on detection, measurement and quantification of emissions including reporting of that data or updates to previous estimates, and use plastic waste as feedstock for advanced recycling; progress in sustainability focus areas; and reserve or resource changes could vary depending on changes in supply and demand and other market factors affecting future prices of oil, gas, petrochemical or new market products and services; future cash flows; our ability to execute operational objectives on a timely and successful basis; policy and consumer support for emission-reduction and other advanced products and technology; changes in international treaties, laws, regulations and incentives, including those greenhouse gas emissions, plastics, carbon storage and carbon costs; evolving reporting standards for these topics and evolving measurement standards for reported data; trade patterns and the development and enforcement of local, national and regional mandates; unforeseen technical or operational difficulties; the outcome of research efforts and future technology developments, including the ability to scale projects and technologies such as electrification of operations, advanced recycling, CCS, hydrogen production, or direct lithium extraction on a commercially competitive basis; availability of feedstocks for lower-emission fuels, hydrogen, or advanced recycling; changes in the relative energy mix across activities and geographies; the actions of competitors; changes in regional and global economic growth rates and consumer preferences; actions taken by governments and consumers resulting from a pandemic; changes in population growth, economic development or migration patterns; military build-ups, armed conflicts, or terrorism; and other factors discussed in this release and in Item 1A. “Risk Factors” in ExxonMobil’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for 2022 and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Forms 10-Q, as well as under the heading “Factors Affecting Future Results” on the Investors page of ExxonMobil’s website at www.exxonmobil.com. The Advancing Climate Solutions Report includes 2022 greenhouse gas emissions performance data and Scope 3 Category 11 estimates for full-year 2022 as of March 1, 2023. The greenhouse gas intensity and greenhouse gas emission estimates include Scope 2 market-based emissions. The Sustainability Report, the Advancing Climate Solutions Report, and corresponding Executive Summaries were issued on Jan. 8, 2024. The content and data referenced in these publications focus primarily on our operations from Jan. 1, 2022 – Dec. 31, 2022, unless otherwise indicated. Information regarding some known events or activities in 2023 are also included. No party should place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the dates of these publications. All forward-looking statements are based on management’s knowledge and reasonable expectations at the time of publication. We do not undertake to provide any further updates or changes to any data or forward-looking statements in these publications. Neither future distribution of this material nor the continued availability of this material in archive form on our website should be deemed to constitute an update or re-affirmation of these figures or statements as of any future date. Any future update will be provided only through a public disclosure indicating that fact.
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SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION FOR NON-GAAP AND OTHER MEASURES
The Resiliency section of the Advancing Climate Solutions Report mentions modeled operating cash flow in comparing different businesses over time in a future scenario. Historic operating cash flow is defined as net income, plus depreciation, depletion and amortization for consolidated and equity companies, plus noncash adjustments related to asset retirement obligations plus proceeds from asset sales. The Company’s long-term portfolio modeling estimates operating cash flow as revenue or margins less cash expenses, taxes and abandonment expenditures plus proceeds from asset sales before portfolio capital expenditures. The Company believes this measure can be helpful in assessing the resiliency of the business to generate cash from different potential future markets. The performance data presented in the Advancing Climate Solutions Report and Sustainability Report, including on emissions, is not financial data and is not GAAP data.