Integrating Climate into our Strategy - 27 Facilities That Can Withstand Natural Disasters The models produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)1 anticipate increasingly significant natural impacts over the coming decades as the global temperature gradually increases. We assess the vulnerability of our facilities to these events, which include rising sea levels, hurricanes, flooding and droughts. In accordance with generally accepted practices, we take the risk of natural disasters into account when designing industrial facilities. These risks can be climate-related; they can also include seismic, tsunami, soil strength and other risks. Meteorological and, where applicable, oceanographic measurements taken on site are supplemented by satellite data and climate models. These data are used to develop statistics describing normal operating conditions and extrapolate extreme, centennial and over 10,000-year conditions. Facilities are designed to withstand both normal and extreme conditions, by building in appropriate safety margins. In addition, our internal procedures specifically call for the systematic assessment of the possible repercussions of climate change on our future projects. In-depth studies are carried out when the potential risk is significant relative to the existing safety margin. Our analyses include a review by type of risk — sea level, storms, temperature change and melting permafrost, among others. They also take into account the life span of our projects and their capacity to gradually adapt. To date, these studies have not identified any facilities that cannot withstand the consequences of climate change. With our partners, we also conduct studies focusing on a given region or topic. For example, through the CASE2 consortium, we took part in a study led by RPSEA3 on how climate change affects hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico. We are also involved in the European Union CLIM4ENERGY project, to better understand the potential effects of climate change on our North Sea platforms. Additionally, we lead an IPIECA4 task force focused on best practices and adapting oil and gas facilities to climate risk. The IPCC brings together several hundred international researchers and is the acknowledged authority on climate science. 1   Climatology and Simulation of Eddies Joint Industry Project. 2 3 Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America. 4  he global oil and gas industry association for environmental T and social issues.