Sustainability

The Board oversees and considers recommendations from the Sustainability Committee on the company’s policies, performance and reporting in relation to sustainability-related matters including health and safety, process safety, the environment, climate change, human rights, Indigenous Peoples cultural heritage and engagement, security and emergency management and community relations. 

The Non-Executive Directors bring diverse operational and international experience, industry understanding, knowledge of financial markets and decarbonisation technologies and strategies, and insight into health, safety, environmental, community and other sustainability-related matters that are important to Woodside. The Board supplements its sustainability knowledge by seeking the input of executives, external advisers and specialists to further inform its decisions.

The competencies and skills of the Directors are set out in the competencies matrix included in the Corporate Governance Statement on Section 4.1 - Corporate Governance Statement in the 2025 Annual Report. The Director competencies matrix includes energy transition and climate-related components to reflect the importance of these issues to Woodside’s operations. The Board uses this competencies matrix to assess the skills and experience of each Director and the combined capabilities of the Board, to identify potential areas of focus for Director recruitment and to identify any professional development opportunities that may benefit Directors.

Changes to the membership of Woodside’s Board of Directors are part of the continuous review of Board skills and composition. Changes are intended to enhance Woodside’s Board and Committees so that they are best placed to support Woodside’s global operations and strategic growth opportunities through the energy transition.

The Board has four standing committees to assist in the discharge of its responsibilities, including on sustainability-related matters.⁴

A structured calendar provides the Board and its relevant Committees with regular scheduled updates on the four material topics outlined in Section 3.6.1 – Woodside’s Sustainability Plan and other sustainability topics as appropriate. Outcomes from committee meetings are communicated to the Board. Information is presented by management as well as external advisers and specialists. Climate change and safety are both separately discussed at every meeting of the Sustainability Committee, or at a Board Meeting during meetings at which the Sustainability Committee does not convene.

Examples of topics considered by the Board and its relevant committees in 2025 include:

• energy markets and the energy transition, including developments in international policy, particularly in the US, European Union and Australia
• investor feedback on climate and sustainability topics
• the identification of material sustainability topics for 2026
• health and safety matters, including process safety, field leadership and psychosocial factors
• performance against net equity Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions targets and the progress of emissions reduction initiatives
• performance against the targets in Woodside’s Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP)
• the company’s obligations under the Australian Sustainability Reporting Standard Climate-related Disclosures Standard S2 (AASB S2), including amongst other matters, the material climate-related risks and opportunities
• updates from the Murujuga Rock Art Monitoring Program and other regulatory and international heritage matters
• biodiversity outcomes associated with 2025 plantings at Woodside’s Western Australian carbon farms
• sustainability ratings agencies assessments of Woodside’s sustainability performance
• human rights matters, including evolving regulatory regimes and due diligence expectations
• information on the cost and feasibility of potential emissions abatement options
• developments in the European Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and the methane regulation
• Woodside’s Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0 (OGMP 2.0) Implementation Plan
• Woodside’s performance against the World Bank’s Zero Routine Flaring by 2030 initiative
• update on the 30th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and International Maritime Organization’s Net Zero Framework

Listening to our investors helps Woodside to understand their priorities and perspectives on our strategy, sustainability direction, performance and disclosures. In 2025 our Board and Management held over 200 meetings with investors in which climate and sustainability-related matters were discussed.

These supplemented direct correspondence, and the opportunity to exchange views with shareholders at our Annual General Meeting. In addition, Woodside has introduced new ways to enhance the breadth and quality of our engagement, including a CEO briefing and Q&A, a site tour, and a dedicated sustainability focus session led by subject matter experts on a specific topic.

The Board and Executive Leadership Team regularly discuss the feedback that they receive during this structured calendar of engagement.

The feedback and perspectives that we receive from investors during our sustainability engagement is diverse, especially on key aspects of our approach to managing climate change and the energy transition. There is no uniform view on Woodside’s climate initiatives or the pace of progress, with financial institutions and individual investors often holding opposing views.

It is the role of the Board to listen, consider and balance divergent stakeholder perspectives along with its relevant industry experience, technical knowledge, and access to expertise, ultimately adopting a direction that is in the long term interests of its shareholders. We transparently disclose how we have addressed the main perspectives raised.

Executive remuneration is an important tool to reward management performance in line with company priorities, including sustainability. In 2025, safety and climate metrics were each a distinct component of Company Scorecard impacting Variable Annual Reward.

Safety metrics make up 15% of the total scorecard to ensure a focus on our aim to prevent all injuries and the critical importance of effective process safety management and leadership to avoid major accident and environmental events.

Climate metrics make up 15% of the total scorecard, and are based on gross Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions performance and on new energy project progress.^5,6 Outcomes of these elements of the 2025 scorecard are included in the Remuneration Report on Section 4.3 - Remuneration Report in the 2025 Annual Report. Individual key performance indicators (KPIs) may also be added to Executive performance agreements in accordance with their roles and responsibilities.

The CEO is responsible for the management of Woodside's business activities, including implementation of the Sustainability Plan, and reports directly to the Board and Chair. The CEO is supported by the Executive Leadership Team. The position of Executive Vice President Sustainability, Policy and External Affairs reports directly to the CEO and is a member of the Executive Leadership Team.

The Executive Leadership Team is informed about and monitors progress on sustainability-related matters by senior leaders through channels such as presentations and papers to the Executive Leadership Team, and by distribution of Board papers and other periodic updates. 

The strategic nature of sustainability-related topics means that many different groups (including amongst others Climate and Sustainability, Finance, Governance and Risk and Compliance and Operations) have a role to play in the delivery of sustainability-related performance. Activities include:

• incorporating sustainability-related considerations, in particular climate and the energy transition, into development of company strategy 
• setting budgets, a capital allocation framework and investment decision-making processes that include the consideration of sustainability-related factors
• preparing a sustainability plan and recommending actions, targets and metrics
• consideration of identified material climate-related risks and opportunities (and integration within the risk management process)
• monitoring and updating the Board and Executive Leadership Team on the Sustainability Plan and related internal and external developments
• designing company-wide processes to assist business delivery, such as integrated emissions accounting and forecasting, technical company minimum standards, and asset decarbonisation plans
• building a portfolio of carbon credits which is subject to integrity due diligence
• liaising with debt and equity investors, including on sustainability-related matters.

Woodside management supplements its knowledge and expertise by joining and engaging with external organisations. This helps to ensure that management is aware of emerging trends and developments, including in jurisdictions where we do not have a direct operational footprint, and can learn from the experience of others.

In 2025, Woodside engaged with organisations including Ipieca, the global oil and gas association dedicated to advancing environmental and social performance across the energy transition. Woodside’s Vice President Climate, Sustainability and Energy Policy is a member of Ipieca’s global executive committee and is responsible for championing the organisation’s work on climate change. Other Woodside employees attend committees and working groups, including its Climate Change, Social, and Environment committees. Woodside is also a member of the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP). Staff members participate in IOGP’s standing committees and expert working groups meetings. Woodside utilises IOGP’s industry accepted metrics and standards where possible, particularly in the areas of health and safety, which enables sharing of best practice and benchmarking.

We are also members of a number of other industry associations and organisations.

Woodside complies with regulatory requirements in jurisdictions that apply to our activities. We also monitor the development of global sustainability reporting standards, relevant to our activities around the world.

As a calendar year reporter, Woodside is required under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and AASB S2 to include specific climate-related disclosures in its Sustainability Report within its 2025 Annual Report.

Our 2025 sustainability disclosures are also guided by a number of voluntary frameworks including amongst others: 

• The recommendations of the former TCFD, which have now been migrated to IFRS for monitoring of the progress of companies’ climate-related disclosures
• The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), which is a network-based organisation that promotes sustainability reporting worldwide. The GRI reporting framework sets out principles and indicators that organisations can use to measure and report their environmental, social and governance performance
• Ipieca reporting guidance, which is specific to the oil and gas sector.

Woodside also participates and engages with selected sustainability rating indices and benchmarking organisations, including MSCI, S&P Global, Sustainalytics, Climate Action 100+ and the Transition Pathways Initiative. Participation provides comparative insights into stakeholders’ areas of interest, emerging trends and good business practice with regards to sustainability performance.