Ethical assessments

Since 2002, the Ethics committee has worked with the consulting firm GoodCorporation to conduct ethical assessments of subsidiaries/entities in their dealings with stakeholders –customers, suppliers, partners, shareholders and host countries. The aim is to check their understanding and implementation of the Code of conduct. The assessment is based on 87 indicators, a quarter of which are related to human rights. From 2002 to 2011 , more than 85 assessments have been completed.

In 2010, a pilot project in Angola – the first Total’s investment project to be assessed - has been launched with the assistance of GoodCorporation. The objective is to promote good practices and fundamental principles in the supply chain by verifying the compliance of the suppliers’ practices and policies with our standards.

Self-assessment process on human rights risks and compliance

In September 2006, Total joined the Human Rights and Business Project created by the Danish Institute for Human Rights.

Through this project, a dedicated tool for businesses - the Human Rights Compliance Assessment (HRCA) - has been designed to gauge the human rights risks and compliance of their own activities and raise human rights awareness by stimulating collective deliberation and discussion.

The questionnaire is based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and 80 fundamental international conventions and covers civil and political rights, economic and social rights, and the right to development.

The HRCA was later adapted to Total’s specific situation. The tool is now comprised of 30 to 100 questions and is adaptable depending on the country risk, the subsidiary's business and the sensitive situations which it may face.

The Danish Institute for Human Rights gave its own account in our Society and Environment Report 2009.

The HRCA was tested in Angola in 2009. As the participants provided the Group with good feedback, it was implemented a second time in South Africa in 2010. Other tools were used in Myanmar and Uganda in 2011.

Social implementation assessment

CDA Collaborative Learning Projects is a non-profit organization working in the field of economic and social development. It has introduced a program to educate multinationals on how their activities impact regions affected by sociopolitical pressures or conflicts.

We support this program and include its insights in our internal analysis.

Several case studies examining our presence in Myanmar between 2002 and 2010, in Sudan in 2005, in Mauritania in 2006 were independently performed by CDA. The reports are available on CDA w eb site.