SPEED/ SUSTAINABILITY REPORT
We have developed a series of actions to foster a culture of active, rigorous risk management aligned with our SPEED values:
Different areas are involved in actively and responsibly managing the operational and technical risks identified. Their role as leaders is to increase the understanding and management of risks in their areas throughout the whole organization. The challenge in 2024 is to transform the current area-based management into a corporate management system. This is currently in process.
The Board of Directors is responsible for monitoring risk management at GeoPark, and through its different committees it provides guidelines and monitors the success of risk identification and management.
Currently, two of our Board members have experience in this area. For more information about the composition of the Board, our highest governing body, see page 26 of this Report.
At GeoPark, everyone shares responsibility for risk management. However, there are positions which by their nature mean that they have the most risk management responsibility at the operational level:
HS Manager: Management of risks related to occupational health and industrial safety
Sustainability Manager: Climate Risk Management and Human Rights
Nature and Neighbors Manager: Management of social and environmental risks related to our operations
Asset Managers: Leadership in risk prevention and mitigation actions in our operations
Supply Manager: Management of risks resulting from supplier and contractor engagement
Physical Security Manager: Management of risks related to the physical integrity of our employees and assets resulting from the economic, political and social context of the countries we operate in
IThink Manager: Cybersecurity risk management
In 2023 we carried out our first double materiality exercise, whose main input was the Company’s corporate risk matrix. The result was the definition of eight material topics with double impact on sustainability issues.
In 2024 we will work to incorporate double materiality results into the corporate risk management system. Alignment of the prioritized material topics with the risk matrix is shown in the following table:
Our SPEED/Sustainability Integrated Value System is at the heart of GeoPark’s corporate identity and has been part of our DNA since day one. Generating value for all our stakeholders determines what we do and how we do it, which is why our actions are framed in the commitment to respect and promote Human Rights
We have a grievance mechanism called Cuéntame that is aligned with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP) and allows us to engage directly with all stakeholders at any time.
We inform relevant authorities about situations that affect or could affect the Human Rights of our stakeholders, including neighbors and social leaders that we have identified as Human Rights defenders. We are committed to actively looking for solutions to problems, always within legal boundaries and respecting the Human Rights of third parties. This implies promoting dialogue in scenarios in which there are no de facto channels, and always in coordination with relevant authorities.
During the environmental public hearing, led by the Nature & Neighbors team and in accordance with the mandate of the environmental authority for the Bienparado development area license evaluation, we undertook actions to promote respect for the Human Rights of the communities. These actions included:
Providing two spaces to promote the exercise of citizen participation: one in the urban area and the other in the rural area
Setting up service points to facilitate access to information about the project, before the environmental public hearing
Coordinating with national and regional institutions that guarantee Human Rights
Enabling citizens to participate anonymously in the hearing (through voice distortion measures)
Providing a childcare area so that mothers and fathers could participate in the meetings
Giving information to all attendees in clear and simple language
Setting up a mobile Cuéntame service point to address attendees’ grievances
Human Rights management starts with identifying potential impacts and their associated risks. Different areas of the Company participate in these analyses
when we arrive in a new area. We carry out an early management analysis to identify the possible social, economic and environmental impacts that our projects could have on the environment and neighboring communities. This detailed review is the basis of our Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA), which authorities require to evaluate social license to operate.
Based on the information collected, we implement actions aimed at preventing the occurrence of risks and mitigating their potential impact. This work is reported to the neighboring communities and local authorities at the times established by the legislation of each respective country in which we operate, as well as in different participation spaces that our team organizes periodically.
We conducted Human Rights Risk and Impact Analyses in Putumayo, Colombia as part of our due diligence process in 2022. We replicated this exercise for our operations in Ecuador and Colombia’s Llanos basin in 2023. As a result of each risk analysis, our team works with Human Rights consultants to design and implement action plans to prevent the occurrence of the identified risks and mitigate impacts if they do happen.
According to the results of the Human Rights Risk Analyses that we have carried out, none of our operations is at significant risk of forced or compulsory labor or child labor.
This is the first cycle of Human Rights Risk Analyses, and we plan to update it every four years.
» IPIECA’s Human Rights Working Group: Made up of representatives of member companies of international association IPIECA, which shares best practices and develops tools for Human Rights-focused management
» Guías Colombia: A group led by the Ideas para la Paz Foundation that brings together representatives of several companies in Colombia to draw up guidelines to help strengthen Human Rights and international humanitarian law in the country. In 2023 we contributed to the Climate Change and Just Transition Guide. GeoPark is currently approving its implementation
(DH3) In 2023, no cases were received, through legal channels, Cuéntame or other communication mechanisms, of violations or affectations of our stakeholder´s Human Rights as a consequence of our operations
As part of the ongoing management of the physical safety and security of all our employees, contractors, and neighbors of our operations and assets, we carry out the following:
In addition, we continuously develop and/or update:
(DJSI 1.9.1/2/3)
As we recognize the importance of safeguarding GeoPark’s information and digital assets:
» Awareness messages sent via email, the Company’s internal social network and screens located throughout our facilities
» Training exercises on identifying phishing and malicious emails, so that employees can recognize them and report them to the Cybersecurity team
» Talks with employees and users » Cybersecurity training in new employee inductions
» Activations as part of the commemoration of Cybersecurity Day (November 30), which include cybersecurity talks and activities in the family and at work
» Incentives for the users who most report suspicious activities or emails in a year
