Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) has launched a historic three year Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Program designed to build on KNPC's existing strengths in environmental, social and economic strategy and Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting. By the end of the project, it is anticipated that KNPC will become one of the first companies in the world to comply with the new ISO26000 Corporate Social Responsibility Guidance Industry Standard (due to be launched in 2010/11).

The program will deliver a world-class CSR report within three years. The first draft KNPC Corporate Social Responsibility report will be circulated to internal and external audiences in 2009, the interim, first international report will be published in July 2010, and the final internationally recognized world-class report will be delivered by August 2011.

KNPC will be launching a Foundation to effectively structure all its social, cultural and educational contributions, and will set up a KNPC National Volunteers Program to encourage its staff to get involved in projects in their communities. It is planned that this program will eventually be rolled out regionally and internationally. KNPC will continue to address the environmental impacts of its industry, and look into all the ways it can reduce the effects of Greenhouse Gas Emissions.

KNPC will also be launching a more sophisticated website to reflect the company's commitment to making the priorities of people and planet as important as profit. Just last month, KNPC won the "Cleanest Production" Prize awarded by the Council of Arab Environment Ministers for the year 2008.

London, Brussels and Kuwait-based Sovereign Strategy, whose clients include Formula One, Bloomberg and the City of London, will be advising KNPC's Senior Management and Corporate Communications Department on this initiative. Sovereign Strategy will have a permanent team based in Kuwait with further advisers working around the Gulf and in the United Kingdom.

KNPC Chairman and Managing Director Farouk Hussain Al-Zanki said: "It is vital that each and every one of us appreciates our duty to contribute positively to our communities and to give back to the people and the planet that give so much to us. I see a great opportunity for our company to show that it is one of the most environmentally-conscious and socially aware companies in the region and across the wider world."

Tags: Kuwait National Petroleum Company