Message from our CEO

This belief is built into our organizational mission – to improve lives through safe, sustainable, and efficient energy delivery – and central to the work we do every day. As illustrated throughout this report, we continued to advance energy through our ESG efforts and performance in 2021.

In our second full year as a stand-alone midstream organization, we strengthened our focus on reducing our carbon footprint by refining our organizational structure for the future. We expanded senior management and Board oversight of climate-related risks and emissions reduction projects, and we appointed two new climate-related management positions – Vice President of Sustainability and the Director of ESG. We also expanded our emissions reduction efforts, including testing and implementing a range of advanced technologies. These efforts yielded reductions in absolute greenhouse gas emissions and emissions intensity compared to 2020.

This track record and commitment to emissions reductions has positioned WES to play a key role in the energy transition. Our forward-looking facility design – featuring direct-to-producer pipeline connections and centralized oil stabilization facilities – helps lower our customers’ emissions, reduces the equipment needed at the wellhead, and eliminates the need for routine flaring. We’re also hard at work progressing plans for the future. Our Sustainability team continues to evaluate new opportunities to partner with others in clean energy projects, and our Air Quality team is working with our Engineering and Operations teams to develop creative solutions to further decrease our footprint and reduce emissions.

We are also working to advance the energy industry through our efforts in diversity, equity, and inclusion. In 2021, we appointed a member of our senior leadership team to oversee these efforts as Senior Vice President of Human Capital Management and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). This role is spearheading our continued expansion of DEI programming, including the introduction of formal employee training across the organization and the development of a DEI roadmap, which we will continue to progress and implement in 2022 and beyond.

In 2021, we also strengthened our governance systems to further integrate accountability for ESG performance into our culture. For example, we expanded HSSE
goals in our annual executive and employee bonus compensation program to include safety, spills, and community outreach, with plans to further refine these goals in 2022 and beyond to emphasize our commitment to emissions reduction.

As you will read throughout this report, our achievements in addressing ESG topics underscore the quality and depth of experience of our people at WES. Despite the pandemic, our employees donated more than 10,500 hours of time to nearly 200 causes in the first full year of our volunteer program. From feeding hungry neighbors and building bikes for kids to hosting workdays at local non-profit organizations, our work in the communities where we live and work is invaluable in helping our neighbors during the pandemic and building the WES culture.

Our ESG journey is only made possible through the passion and hard work of our 1,600 employees and contractors. I’m appreciative of their efforts and proud of
what WES has accomplished to address ESG topics after two years of operating as a stand-alone organization. We will continue to advance energy through our ESG performance, which underpins our ability to deliver value to our stakeholders and our overall success.

Michael Ure
President and CEO