Delivering on our promise

Our commitment to the UN SDGs:

	By prioritising local employment and procurement we create shared prosperity, and growth in the areas where we operate.
	We support capacity building and promote career readiness skills across the MENA region.
	We are committed to the economic growth and infrastructural development of the areas where we operate.
	Our Social Performance function aims to raise the quality of life of local communities.

	Health and wellness are integral to our Health, Safety, Security, and Environment (HSS&E).
	We have consistently supported the transition to cleaner energy in the KRI since 2008.
	We are committed to inclusion of people of the determination* by championing them.
	We partner with community organisations to enhance the impact of our Social Performance activities, and with local suppliers to support local talents and economies.

2019 and 2020 Highlights

Direct impact on the community

The natural gas we produce is transported by pipeline to power plants in the KRI, fuelling well over 80 per cent of the power generation in the region. By ensuring reliable supply of natural gas to the region we help the KRG deliver improved services to the region’s six million residents. In turn, our operations have helped improve the quality of life in the KRI, powering households and local industries, and stimulating economic growth. A detailed impact assessment study conducted by PwC on the Kurdistan Gas Project and sponsored by Crescent Petroleum and Dana Gas determined that between 2008 and 2018 our operations saved the KRI approximately $25 billion by replacing diesel with natural gas, enabling improved electricity services and empowering the regional economy.

That impact became critical during the COVID-19 pandemic, as we completed the successful execution of the Khor Mor Plant By-Pass project, allowing us to achieve a new gas sales record of over 435 MMSCF/day.

Our teams adopted stringent health and safety measures to minimise the risks of COVID-19 infection and keep operations running smoothly, ensuring uninterrupted energy supply at a time when most people were confined to their homes. While we worked to ensure the health and safety of our employees, we also had to operate under stringent local laws and global guidelines that limited the movement of our people.

Nurturing the next generation

We are committed to nurturing the region’s youth in our quest to build a more prosperous and inclusive future. As part of this commitment we provide year-round training opportunities to college students and fresh graduates, both in the UAE and the KRI, offering work experience and training to hone skills and make young talent more prepared to employment, including to Crescent Petroleum.

In 2019 we partnered with Edraak, the Arab world’s leading platform for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), to develop a series of open and free online career readiness courses to help bridge the gap between the skills acquired during school or university and those required by the labour market. The Career Readiness specialisation, which launched in April 2020, has delivered three successive online courses: English for the Workplace, Digital Literacy for the Workplace, and Business Essentials. The online certificate programme aims to equip job seekers with the basic communication and work skills required in the modern workplace. The programme, held in Arabic, had more than 235,000 people registered by October 2020, and is targeting a total of 500,000 registrations across the Middle East before its conclusion.

As policymakers and business leaders in the region tackle the challenges of youth unemployment, we believe it is critical to reinforce efforts to develop soft skills for the modern workplace. Our partnership with Edraak is an extension of our core mission of leveraging our understanding of the Middle East to promote cleaner energy and social sustainability.

Investing in the local economy

We prioritise local talent whenever we can and favour local suppliers when possible to generate economic opportunities for communities across our operations. PwC determined that the capital investment in the first decade had an employment effect of 20,000 jobs, out of which 10,000 jobs were direct employment in the region.

In 2020 we engaged with 551 suppliers, both local and overseas. Spending on local suppliers fell to 40 per cent in 2020 compared to over 50 per cent in recent years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As capital expenditure projects were put on hold due to the pandemic, reducing the procurement of building materials, hiring of construction equipment, and civil works and numerous other projects in which local suppliers predominate. In turn most procurement in 2020 focused on essential plant operations and supplies procured from overseas. As we resume normal operations and restart capital expenditure projects, we will continue to prioritise local hires and local procurement across all areas of operation.

Leveraging Social Performance

The Social Performance (SP) function was established in 2018, building on the traditional Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) function to deliver more strategic planning and greater impact. SP has worked to build deeper and more strategic relationships with stakeholders and helped to identify critical opportunities and programmes before they are needed to maximise our impact on all aspects of society, from education to the delivery of basic services to surrounding villages where we operate.

As part of this effort, we work to identify and evaluate opportunities aiming to create a virtuous cycle of progress and development. Detailed monitoring, planning, and execution in collaboration and coordination with the KRG helps us deliver programmes on a variety of budgets and levels.

The SP function aims to accomplish the following three key objectives:

Social Performance impact

Our impact begins with us as a major employer in the KRI and Sharjah. Beyond our direct involvement, we are also an important contributor and to the communities that we serve. We take pride in how the communities around us have thrived and grown, as evidenced by better education, improved health outcomes, and rising incomes. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, our SP team remained engaged with the community, supporting with information and understanding about how to avoid infection, as well as with supplies of staple foods and protective supplies at various times.

Our stakeholders are the universe of individuals, organisations, and communities that can directly affect or be affected by our operations. We endeavour to address their needs and expectations as we engage with them at the international, corporate, and project levels. Each must be engaged in a targeted manner appropriate to their needs and timeframe.
Our key stakeholder groups and the respective mechanisms for engaging them.

Empowering our communities

We firmly believe that supporting neighbouring communities to thrive and grow is pivotal to our business. Our SP initiatives strive to improve the quality of life in and around our operations by promoting healthcare, education, and the arts. They also strive to encourage social inclusion of people of determination, as well as internally displaced people (IDPs) and vulnerable children.
Our activities in 2019 and 2020 focused on bolstering the employability and self-sufficiency of the region’s youth, including those from marginalised communities. During those years we invested $4.16 million in the KRI and $3.82 million in Sharjah to support development in line with UN SDGs.

Major projects we undertook in 2019 and 2020:

Quality of life

	Supplying 70,000 litres of potable water daily to over 700 people in Chemchemal and Shorsh in 2019.
	Supplying 70,000 litres of potable water daily to over 700 people in Chemchemal and Shorsh in 2019.
	Repairing the road between Qadir Karam and Zarda as well as the roads connecting 16 villages in the area in 2019, benefitting 2,000 residents.
	Delivering basic food staples to 265 families in Qadir Karam, Chemchemal, and Khor Mor in 2019.
	Delivering 1,850 packages with staple food for families in Chemchemal and vicinities during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.

	Supplying electric power to the 1,435 residents of Qadir Karam and 5 villages surrounding Khor Mor plant in 2019 and 2020.
	Supplying 13 off-grid villages of 1,400 inhabitants with 8,900 litres of diesel monthly to fuel local generators in 2019 and 2020.
	Providing 5,000 litres of fuel supply quarterly to the 36 residents of Turka village in 2019 and 2020.
	Implementing water supply projects in Sheikh Hameed, Taza Shar, Qadir Karam, Cham Shurkhaw, and Shorsh to provide 31,632 residents with potable water in 2019 and 2020.

Education and arts

	Refurbishing Zagros Preparatory School, Khor Mor Gawra Primary School, Sheikh Hameed School, Qadir Karam Primary and High School, and Qaitul Primary School in 2019, benefitting 750 schoolchildren.
	Offering classroom equipment to Rokhana School and Media Primary School in 2019, benefitting 530 schoolchildren.
	Helping expand the facilities of Gull Kindergarten in Chemchemal in 2019, benefitting 140 children.
	Supporting 18 teachers across new disciplines in Qadir Karam schools in 2019.
	Employing 90 drivers to transport over 180 students from 21 villages to schools in Qadir Karam, Sheikh Hameed, and Takya Jabari in 2019.
	Sponsoring the 14th Sharjah Biennial, Leaving the Echo Chamber, held between March and June 2019.

	Sponsoring the International Publishers Association’s Amman IPA Regional Seminar, Jordan, in 2019.
	Partnering with Edraak, the Arab world’s largest MOOC portal, to launch The Career Readiness specialisation, which has benefitted over 235,000 learners in 2020.
	Sponsoring Iraq Children Foundation to empower over 250 orphans and displaced children in 2019.
	Supporting the American University of Sharjah’s (AUS) Iraq Public Leadership Program to nurture 25 aspiring leaders in 2019 and an additional 30 in 2020.
	Sponsoring AUS’ institutional advancement events in 2019 and 2020, including the annual Alumni Reunion Dinner, Career Fair, and the Alumni and Corporate Sports Games.

Health and wellness

	Refurbishing ambulances and providing drivers to serve Qadir Karam Health Centre in the KRI in 2019, benefitting 2,500 people.
	Refurbishing medical centres in Sheikh Hameed and Qadir Karam in 2020, benefitting 50 patients.
	Distributing firefighting equipment in Qadir Karam in 2020.
	Sponsoring AMAR International Charitable Foundation to deliver healthcare services and vocational training for over 16,000 Yazidi IDPs in the KRI in 2019.

	Sponsoring 2nd and 3rd annual UAE Rare Disease Day organised by High Hopes Pediatric Therapy Center, February 2019 and February 2020.
	Sponsoring the 2nd annual paediatric cancer campaign in the UAE, Ana-vation by Friends of Cancer Patients, in which 180 schoolchildren participated, February to May 2019.
	Sponsoring the 2nd biennial cancer fundraiser in the UAE, Relay for Life by Friends of Cancer Patients, November 2019.
	Sponsoring breast and prostate cancers awareness campaigns in Iraq by Together Organization for Humanitarian Relief and Development, October to November 2020.

Empowering the people of determination

	Sponsoring the Special Olympics World Games Abu Dhabi 2019, in which over 7,500 athletes participated, March 2019.
	Participating in the Emirates NBD Unity Run, November 2019.

Supporting Emirates Association for the Visually Impaired, Rashid Center for the Determined Ones, Awladouna Center for People with Disabilities, Special Needs Future Development Center, and Senses Residential and Day Care for Special Needs in 2019 and 2020.

Supporting clean energy and social sustainability

Our core mission of promoting cleaner energy and social sustainability underpins our support of initiatives that bring greater understanding of our industry and the region’s society and economy.

In 2019 and 2020 we engaged in numerous thought-leadership and policy programmes and energy events in two main streams: leadership in the energy transition and development of Iraq and the region.

Leading thought-leadership initiatives

We have supported key events focused on the future of energy and the low-carbon transition. These include:

	Sponsoring the Chatham House MENA Energy conference, January 2019.
	Participating in the inaugural SALT Conference Abu Dhabi in December 2019.
	Sponsoring the Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum, January 2019 and January 2020.
	Sponsoring the Atlantic Council white paper, The Role of Oil and Gas Companies in the Energy Transition, January 2020.
	Participating in the East Mediterranean Gas Forum, August 2020.
	Participating in Siemens Energy’s MEA Energy Week, October 2020.

	Participating in the World Economic Forum in Davos, January 2019 and 2020.
	Participating in the 17th World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa, April 2019.
	Sponsoring the 24th World Energy Council Congress, September 2019.
	Sponsoring the 12th annual Arab Forum for Environment and Development conference, November 2019.
	Sponsoring The Good Fight Against GHG Emissions conference, September 2019..

Supporting Iraq’s growth and development

	Sponsoring the Atlantic Council Iraq Initiative in 2019 and 2020.
	Participating in the CWC Iraq Petroleum Conference in June 2019.
	Organising Powering Iraq’s Energy Future special panel event at the World Energy Council forum in Abu Dhabi, September 2019.
	Participating in Basra Megaprojects—Oil, Gas & Environment Conference, October 2019.

	Participating in the Iraq Britain Business Council Autumn Conference, December 2019.
	Sponsoring the Chatham House Iraq Initiative in 2019 and 2020.
	Sponsoring the 8th Conference of the Iraqi Environment and Health Society-UK, February 2020.
	Sponsoring Frontier Exchange’s Iraq Finance Expo, June 2020.
	Sponsoring the Iraq Oil & Gas Show, December 2020.

Crescent Petroleum participated in two initiatives by the WEF to help the MENA region begin to address the socio-economic crises generated by the COVID-19 pandemic:

• The Sustainable Development Impact Summit in September 2020, which laid a sustainable recovery roadmap for the region; and,
• The Jobs Reset Summit in October 2020, which called for more inclusive employment practices and championed efforts like the Edraak Career Preparedness Specialisation sponsored by Crescent Petroleum.