Message

The businesses of Enbridge have taken us, literally, around the globe. This brings special responsibilities and challenges, as our businesses have impacts on people, economies and the environment that must be measured, monitored and managed in responsible ways.

As Enbridge continues to conduct its operations and explore new opportunities for growth, a clear understanding of Corporate Social Responsibility is increasingly important. In late 2003, Enbridge committed to formalize a Corporate Social Responsibility policy and associated practices. This process includes creating this, our first Corporate Social Responsibility Report, and also an internal review of our governance and management structures regarding Corporate Social Responsibility. We believe these actions, along with mid- and long-range goals, including social audits and independent verification, will demonstrate in tangible ways our commitment to public accountability and transparency.

We endorse the principles of the United Nations Global Compact and the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights and we work with host governments, community leaders, landowners and all our stakeholders to ensure that we conduct our work ethically, appropriately and share our experiences to the benefit of others.

When Enbridge first started formally reporting on our Corporate Social Responsibility efforts in our 2001 Environment, Health and Safety (EH&S) Report, we focused almost exclusively on those areas of our operations. In 2002, our report evolved to include more information on our community investment commitments and more background on our international challenges, operations and activities. In past years, we have used the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Guidelines as a framework to help evaluate our performance. This year, this report has been prepared in accordance with the 2002 GRI Guidelines. It represents a balanced and reasonable presentation of our organization's economic, environmental and social performance. We have begun to develop a plan for independent verification and assurance for future editions of this report.

This year we have also made an effort to ensure that the report reflects the information that stakeholders have indicated is of importance to them. Our stakeholder group is vast, but we believe this report addresses their concerns and areas of interest, based on feedback they have given us through results from last year's EH&S Report survey, customer surveys, and information we have gathered throughout the year. We wish to encourage this feedback, and, therefore, invite you again to let us know what you think about our ongoing activities in these areas.

For Enbridge, Corporate Social Responsibility is "work in progress."We will continue to conduct the business of Enbridge, mindful of stakeholder expectations, and will undertake to identify areas where our performance was good and also areas that need improvement. We will establish performance targets for future editions of this report, and demonstrate that we are serious about the commitments we make.

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