Aiming for industry-leading performance

Devon is committed to doing what’s right for the environment. We want to be a good neighbor, a trusted partner and a responsible, competitive operator as we produce oil and natural gas to help meet global demand. We believe exemplary environmental performance is essential to managing risk and developing forward-looking business opportunities, with the aim of being successful throughout and beyond the energy transition.

To continuously improve our environmental performance, Devon is proactive and results-oriented. We consider the potential impacts of our operations when planning activities and making decisions. We strive to comply with all applicable environmental laws and regulations, often going above and beyond what’s required. In the process, we incorporate technology, tools and best practices to help minimize or avoid effects on air, water, land and wildlife.

Devon seeks to work with contractors who share our commitment to environmental stewardship. Our contractors must adequately train their personnel to perform environmentally sound work and have programs to comply with applicable environmental laws, rules and regulations. Contractors as well as employees have responsibility to stop work to prevent spills or other environmental issues. Starting in 2023, contractors who perform work on Devon locations will complete annual assessments to help us evaluate their environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance in key areas.

Devon has established a track record of environmental performance improvements. To document progress on our long-standing priority to reduce our greenhouse gas (GHG) and methane emissions, we’ve responded to the CDP climate change survey for 18 consecutive years.

For almost two decades, we’ve been at the forefront of water conservation efforts in our industry, and have responded to CDP’s water survey since its inception nine years ago. Devon takes great care to preserve biodiversity and protect wildlife habitat and cultural resources in areas surrounding our operations.

Transparency is important to our stakeholders and keeps us accountable for our results. Devon tracks specific metrics for GHG and methane emissions, flaring, spills, energy use, water use and others. We’ve consistently increased our disclosures in recent years and continue to share this information in this report and other public disclosures. For additional metrics and details on our environmental practices, please refer to our Climate Change Assessment Report and CDP responses.

TAKING ACTION

AIR

  • Reduced Scope 1 and Scope 2 location-based GHG emissions 19% and methane emissions 13% in 2021 compared to 2020.

  • Reduced Scope 1 and Scope 2 location-based GHG emissions intensity 19% and methane emissions intensity 16% in 2021 compared to 2020.

  • Reduced flare volume intensity by 36% in 2021 compared to 2020.

  • Issued our updated 2021 Climate Change Assessment Report aligned with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations.

  • Set ambitious targets to further reduce the carbon intensity of our operations, minimize freshwater use and engage constructively with our value chain.

  • Became a founding sponsor of the Gas Technology Institute (GTI) Veritas initiative that seeks to demonstrate verifiable methane emissions reductions in a consistent, credible and transparent way.

  • Joined the Oil & Gas Methane Partnership 2.0 (OGMP 2.0) and committed to its globally recognized, gold standard reporting framework.

  • Enhanced our voluntary leak detection and repair (LDAR) program by committing to survey all of our producing assets with OGI cameras annually and an advanced aerial methane screening technology semi-annually, as well an installing continuous monitoring at 20% of our production in 2022.

WATER

  • Used 61 million barrels of recycled water in 2021, an increase of 65% compared to 2020.

  • Since 2015, we have reused over 200 million barrels of water from our water treatment facilities.

BIODIVERSITY

  • Established Devon’s Biodiversity Council that develops and implements enterprise-wide standards and looks for opportunities to enhance biodiversity value of Devon-owned surface lands.

DEVON'S GOALS

  • Set 2022 standalone emissions reduction goal that accounts for 15% of the overall corporate scorecard.

Driving alignment

Devon has a strong organization to manage environmental performance, from our board of directors to field-level environmental, health and safety (EHS) and operations teams. We’ve been bringing together our EHS and ESG core competencies and capabilities to drive alignment on our broader enterprise goals and objectives.

Our governance practices and organizational structure elevate EHS oversight and discussions, including those related to climate change and the energy transition. In 2021, we recalibrated the board’s Governance Committee to become the Governance, Environmental, and Public Policy (GEPP) Committee to sharpen our focus on environmental policies and oversight of management’s efforts to integrate sustainability into our business activities. Through its role to nominate candidates for our board, the GEPP Committee establishes a close connection between corporate governance and sustainability. As a component of executive compensation, environmental results included in our corporate goals are reviewed by the board’s Compensation Committee. In addition, at least five Devon directors have an educational background or direct work experience in environmental matters.

At the executive level, Devon’s executive vice president and chief operating officer (COO) is accountable for our environmental programs and performance. To further emphasize results, in 2021 we appointed our first vice president of ESG and EHS, reporting to the COO. In early 2022, we established our standalone ESG team of subject matter experts on sustainability and ESG, led by the new role of ESG manager. The team provides advisory support across Devon to continue making progress in ESG and sustainability. They engage with shareholders, nongovernmental organizations (NGO), policy makers and other external stakeholders to enhance our understanding of ESG risks and opportunities. Working in tandem with our environmental and operations personnel, the ESG team helps guide strategies to achieve our decarbonization targets.

As a result of our organizational efforts, environmental objectives and targets are considered in capital allocation decisions, corporate and business unit planning, and team strategies to operationalize emissions reductions into the way we do business.

Operations buy-in

The EHS Council, made up of Devon business unit and operations leaders, helps protect our social license to operate and advance our culture of environmental stewardship. The council sets environmental strategy and goals, tracks performance and evaluates the effectiveness of our environmental policies, protocols and practices. To continuously improve our performance, the group reviews environmental incidents and near misses, develops corrective actions as needed and shares best practices across Devon. Council members hold regular discussions with field production leaders to update them on rapidly evolving stakeholder expectations about climate change and environmental performance.

The Devon EHS Management System, developed by the council, includes an environmental management element to drive program improvements and assessments. Our environmental professionals work closely with Devon leaders to promote and implement environmentally sound operations that comply with applicable laws, regulations and company policies.

To position Devon for long-term success, the council reviews emerging EHS and ESG issues, as well as proposed laws and regulations and their potential financial, operational and reputational impact on the company.

The council drives industry-leading environmental performance by developing environmental goals that are approved by the board as part of our executive compensation formula. In 2021, we set goals to reduce flaring intensity, increase voluntary leak detection and repair (LDAR) surveys and lower our spill rate. The EHS team’s post-merger priorities included integrating environmental data and protocols from our two legacy companies, which it completed in the first quarter of 2022. Full implementation of our integrated environmental policies, protocols and practices is expected by year-end 2022.

Our 2022 corporate goals include a standalone emissions reduction goal with a 15% weighting and an ESG & community engagement goal with a 15% weighting—together accounting for 30% of the company’s performance scorecard. Our corporate goals and medium- and long-term goals challenge Devon to improve our performance and hold us accountable for producing oil and natural gas in an environmentally responsible way.

Excel Download
Environment Performance Metrics1
*Unless otherwise noted, all data presented is pro forma (Devon + WPX) for U.S. operated assets.
2019 2020 2021
Direct GHG Emissions (Scope 1) (million tonnes CO2e)2 4.65 3.91 3.08v
   By Constituent
      Carbon Dioxide (million tonnes CO2e) 3.66 3.39 2.64
      Methane (million tonnes CO2e) 0.99 0.52 0.45
      Nitrous Oxide (million tonnes CO2e) 0.003 0.002 0.002
   By Source
      Flaring/Venting (million tonnes CO2e) 2.61 1.92 1.46
      Combustion (million tonnes CO2e) 1.84 1.95 1.60
      Other (million tonnes CO2e) 0.19 0.04 0.03
Indirect GHG Emissions from Electricity Use (Scope 2 location-based) (million tonnes CO2e)3 0.27 0.32 0.34v
Direct and Indirect GHG Emissions (Scope 1 and Scope 2 location-based) (million tonnes CO2e)2,3 4.91 4.23 3.42
Direct GHG Emissions Intensity (Scope 1) (tCO2e/MBoe)2 17.22 14.10 11.11
Direct and Indirect GHG Emissions Intensity (Scope 1 and Scope 2 location-based) (tCO2e/MBoe)2 18.20 15.27 12.33
Indirect GHG Emissions from Use of Sold Products (Scope 3) (million tonnes CO2e)4,5 48 49 73
We report indirect emissions from the use of sold products on an equity basis from sources not owned or controlled by Devon; however, it is important to note that Scope 3 emissions estimates are subject to uncertainty, inconsistency and duplication as further described in the Air Emissions section of this report. In 2021, Devon’s estimated Scope 3 emissions increased, due to an increase in net equity production reported in Devon's 2021 Annual Report on Form 10-K. 2019 and 2020 estimated Scope 3 emissions are legacy Devon only, while 2021 reflects pro-forma Devon + WPX.
Methane Emissions Intensity (Scope 1) (tCO2e/MBoe)2 3.65 1.94 1.62
Methane Emissions Intensity - Production Segment (Scope 1) (% of natural gas produced)6 0.31% 0.19% 0.18%
Flaring Intensity (% of natural gas produced)7 2.21% 1.48% 0.94%
Energy Used - Fuel and Electricity Use (trillion BTU)3 32.87 31.36 27.18
Water Usage (million Bbl)8 141 98 116
   Recycled (million Bbl) 34 37 61
   Sourced (million Bbl) 107 61 55
Water Usage Intensity (Bbl/Boe produced)8 0.5 0.3 0.4
Water Usage Intensity (million Bbl/well completion)8 0.3 0.3 0.4
Water Recycle Rate (recycled water Bbl/water usage Bbl)8 24% 38% 53%
Devon's total water use for completions activities varies with activity levels, targeted formations and lateral lengths, and includes fresh, non-fresh and recycled water volumes. We seek alternatives to fresh water supplies, where possible.
Reportable Spill Events Released to the Environment (events)9 336 246 280
Reportable Spill Volumes Released to the Environment (barrels)9 4,505 4,042 5,705
1 The environment metrics have been calculated using the best available data at the time of publication. Historical metrics are subject to change as we continuously seek to improve our data management practices, data sources, and calculation methodologies in order to provide the highest level of transparency, consistency and accuracy. We report environment metrics on an operated basis, unless otherwise noted.
2 We include all reportable emissions under EPA's Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP) for Devon operated facilities, as well as non-reportable emissions from our production assets and, beginning in reporting year 2019, gathering and boosting assets. We calculate emission intensities using gross production as reported under the EPA GHGRP for all reporting segments.
3 We calculate our Indirect GHG Emissions from Electricity Use (Scope 2) on a location-based methodology using EPA fuel and electricity emissions factors.
4 We report indirect emissions from the use of sold products (Scope 3) on an equity basis from sources not owned or controlled by Devon. To estimate our Scope 3 emissions, we rely upon IPIECA’s 2016 guidance document Estimating Petroleum Industry Value Chain (Scope 3) Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Per the IPIECA guidance, we report category 11 “Use of Sold Products” by calculating combustion emissions for our oil, natural gas and marketed natural gas liquids products using emission factors obtained from the EPA and net equity production reported in Devon’s 2021 Annual Report on Form 10-K.
5 Performance is limited to legacy Devon performance only in 2019 and 2020 and pro-forma Devon + WPX in 2021, using net equity production reported in Devon's 2021 Annual Report on Form 10-K for all three years.
6 Our methane emissions intensity rate calculation includes all natural gas produced at Devon operated facilities and all methane emissions from Devon operated facilities associated with the production of oil and natural gas.
Click here to see Devon's calculation methodology for methane emissions intensity
7 Our flaring intensity rate calculation includes high-pressure flared volumes associated with the production of oil and natural gas.
8 Our water usage includes all water sources used in completions activities at facilities operated by Devon in 2021.
9 Reportable spill events and volumes exclude a well-control event that occurred in 2019.
V ERM CVS provided limited assurance in relation to Devon’s Total Scope 1 GHG emissions and Total Scope 2 GHG emissions (location-based method) for the reporting period January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021. For more information see:
Basis of Reporting GHG Emissions
Independent Assurance Statement