For a number of years, we worked with the global oil giant to help produce its Sustainability Review. BP’s annual review is an unusually candid document. Its sustainability team view their role as shining a light on the company’s practices and approaches. It’s a warts-and-all approach that can make for interesting, enlightening – and sometimes uncomfortable – reading.

We started working on the report in the period immediately following the Gulf of Mexico disaster, in which 11 people died and 4.9m barrels of oil polluted the coasts of Florida and Louisiana.

Our first task was to write the safety section of the report.

It was possibly the most sensitive project we have ever contributed to. Our job was to accurately report safety and risk management measures throughout BP, bearing in mind that all our conversations and notes could become discoverable in the then-active FBI investigation into the disaster.

We interviewed key BP experts across the world on subjects as wide-ranging as deep sea drilling, risk management process and piracy. Every last phrase of our work had to be verified and recorded with footnoted sources.

In the time we worked on the report, we covered subjects including impact on indigenous people and sensitive environments, extractive techniques, safety and human rights.

We continue to support BP’s sustainability reporting by editing its annual environmental and social impact assessment of its LNG operation in Tangguh, Indonesia.

Keen to find out more? Read our copywriting FAQs or find out how we approach copywriting for energy companies.