Biodiversity
We manage our impact on the land by avoiding disturbance wherever possible. At the beginning planning stages of any project, we consider land and wildlife and identify potential impacts so they can be avoided, minimized or mitigated, and so healthy ecosystems are maintained.
Our biodiversity targets: land and wildlife
BIODIVERSITY
Reclaim 3,000 decommissioned well sites by year-end 2025.
Restore more habitat than we use in the Cold Lake caribou range by year-end 2030.
We are demonstrating our commitment to sustainability with ambitious biodiversity targets, including reclaiming 3,000 decommissioned well sites between 2019 and year-end 2025.
When we decommission a well or facility, we use an approach called area-based closure (ABC), which helps increase efficiencies by focusing our abandonment, decommissioning and reclamation work in larger and neighbouring areas to restore more land and habitat faster.
We have committed to restoring more habitat than we have impacted in the Cold Lake caribou range by the end of 2030. Habitat restoration is a cornerstone for caribou recovery and our Caribou Habitat Restoration Project is the largest of its kind in the world, committing to restore up to 4,000 kilometres of linear land disturbances.
Together, these targets demonstrate our continued commitment to be a leader in reclamation and restoration of the landscapes in which we operate.
Learn about the technology and innovation we use to reduce our impact on land and wildlife.
Read our environmental, social & governance (ESG) report to learn more about our ESG targets and performance.
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Biodiversity progressTarget
PROGRESS
2021
421
reclamation certificates2019 - 2021
48.5%
toward target
(1,455 reclamation certificates)
2021 KEY MILESTONES
- Completed 908 initial reclamations.
- Planted 504,185 trees on reclaimed sites in our conventional and oil sands areas.
- Received 421 reclamation certificates.
- Submitted 654 reclamation certificate applications which are expected to result in the issuance of reclamation certificates in 2022.
WHAT’S NEXT 1
- Continue to actively progress our existing reclamation inventory to site closure.
TargetPROGRESS
Life to date
198,899
total caribou habitat under restoration (acres)2016 - 2021
41.1%
toward target
2021 KEY MILESTONES
- Treated 185 km of linear features.
- Planted 418,000 trees through the Caribou Habitat Restoration Program.
- Successful restoration trials completed.
WHAT’S NEXT 1
- Treat approximately 200 km of linear features in 2022.
- Continue restoration trials that introduce innovation and efficiencies into our program (see p. 67 of our 2021 ESG report for more).
- Reduce standard size of observation well footprint to 50 m from 80 m, reducing the amount of land disturbed.
1 Represents actions that Cenovus intends to take during the 12 months ending December 31, 2022, unless otherwise noted.
Biodiversity at a glance
- We currently have 14,920 acres in various stages of active reclamation within our portfolio.
- As part of our Caribou Habitat Restoration Project, we’ve:
- Restored more than 1,100 km of linear forest disturbances (i.e., old seismic lines, access roads).
- Have made progress towards our 2030 target of restoring more habitat than we disturb – as of year end 2021 have completed more than 41% of the restoration.
- Planted more than 3.2 million trees between 2016 and year-end 2021.