The board of directors of Italy’s Saipem has approved the offshore drilling contractor’s first sustainability plan, which represents an integrated strategy that combines business and financial objectives with environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria, enabling the firm to reach net-zero by 2050.

Saipem revealed on Tuesday that its board of directors, chaired by Chairman Silvia Merlo, met and approved the company’s first sustainability plan, Energy for a Sustainable Future, on 12 July 2022.

Covering the 2022–25 four-year period, the plan reflects one of the “founding” principles of the firm’s strategic plan – the energy and ecological transition – and aims to implement an integrated strategy that combines the plan’s business and financial objectives with a set of ESG factors in order to “create value for all stakeholders in the short and long term.”

The offshore drilling contractor explained that it sees sustainability as an “increasingly strategic priority towards which to steer skills and development” and on which to base its brand purpose: Engineering for a sustainable future.

Saipem’s sustainability plan is divided into 12 strategic ESG areas, indicating specific objectives and related implementation plans for each area. These areas are net-zero; biodiversity; carbon-neutral yard; human capital; diversity and inclusion; health and safety; local impact; supply chain; business ethics; cybersecurity; risk management; and innovation.

The offshore drilling giant explained that this plan sets “challenging objectives.” These include reaching net-zero in 2050 for Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, as a long-term objective, with specific and timely efficiency initiatives in order to immediately start the reduction of the carbon footprint of assets and operations by supporting clients in their sustainability journey.

Saipem outlines that this will be accomplished through avoided emissions totalling 33,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases (GHG) in 2022; achieving carbon neutrality of Scope 2 emissions by 2025; and reducing Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 50 per cent by 2035.

Furthermore, the objectives entail the development of the sustainable and carbon-neutral yard project as a distinguishing factor of the firm’s technological and construction offering, also with a view to contributing to the achievement of net-zero by 2050.

Moreover, Saipem’s objectives focus on supply chain sustainability with the reduction of global emissions through the adoption of an ESG platform and minimum environmental requirements for suppliers as early as 2022 along with a tracking tool for estimating their GHG emissions (Scope 3).

Additionally, the company also lists continued improvement of occupational safety indexes and the development of an increasingly inclusive working environment, “attentive to each individual and open to diversity,” through the achievement of gender equity certification in 2023.

Aside from this, the plan includes an ESG scorecard in which the thematic areas and objectives covering environmental, social and governance aspects are reported with the aim of monitoring their implementation, according to Saipem.

When it comes to Saipem’s most recent developments, it is worth noting that a 400-ft jack-up drilling rig built by CIMC Raffles joined the company’s fleet recently, following a naming ceremony in China ahead of a five-year contract in the Middle East.

The rig’s maximum drilling depth could reach 10,668 meters and this jack-up is suitable for drilling operations in harsh environment waters worldwide.