With a view to limiting the environmental arduousness of its operations, the strategy for 2011-2015 envisages that the LOTOS Group will exclusively implement environmentally friendly technologies, based on the best available solutions characterised by low emissions and highly efficient production processes. In order to ensure that all the requirements resulting from recently introduced or anticipated changes in environmental standards are met, a high pressure natural gas pipeline will be built leading to Grupa LOTOS’ refinery. The gas which is to flow through the pipeline will be one of the basic fuels used to satisfy the refinery’s energy requirements.

The LOTOS Group’s strategy along with the identified development directions until 2020 also accounts for the changing Polish and European legislation. These changes set the general direction for the industry’s transformation, by forcing the industry to significantly reduce its environmental impact in the form of emissions of CO₂, SO₂, nitric oxides and dust, both in the process of production and use of products.

In cooperation with local authorities and social organizations responsible for environmental protection, a number of measures are being taken with the aim of reducing the environmental impact of the LOTOS Group members.

In the case of the LOTOS Group’s key production facility, namely the Gdańsk refinery, the means leading to minimisation of its adverse impact include:

• on-going monitoring of ambient air and water pollutant concentration and of hydrocarbon concentration in the area immediately surrounding the refinery, enabling quick response if the metrics reflecting the refinery’s environmental impact show any undesirable upward trends,
• discharge of wastewater whose quality is fully compliant with legal requirements thanks to a three-stage wastewater treatment plant,
• use of treated wastewater to produce process water,
• use of condensate to produce boiler feedwater,
• strict supervision over waste management,
• use of equipment and measures designed to help protect the environment, such as:
• double sealing of tanks with floating roofs,
• ensuring air tightness of all process facilities and connecting them to the emergency discharge system, where hydrocarbons are burned in flares,
• ensuring that the process of pumping fuel to road tankers and railway tank-cars is performed using the airtight vapour recovery system.