- data has been verified, full text of the Independent Assurance Report

The scale of the initiatives we have undertaken is confirmed by the environmental spending and investment projects recently implemented by Grupa LOTOS and other companies of the LOTOS Group.

Item	Costs and outlays [PLN ‘000]
	2010	2011	2012
Grupa LOTOS
Costs
Environmental management costs	N/A	2,685	3,143
Environmental protection spending	N/A	20,011	15,842
Financing of pro-environmental activities of external institutions	N/A	285	525
Outlays
Pro-environmental investments	16,812	12,116	67,606
Material investments *	705,663	114,733	141,913
LOTOS Group
Costs
Environmental management costs	N/A	25,450	4,729
Environmental protection spending	N/A	34,564	19,003
Financing of pro-environmental activities of external institutions	N/A	295	547
Environmental insurance **	N/A	104	105
Outlays
Pro-environmental investments	33,647	34,709	75,515
Material investments ***	1,161,327	805,265	814,264

The environmental management costs include the spending on environmental research, external certifications of management systems and additional services rendered by external companies.

Environmental protection expenditure includes the costs of waste disposal, maintenance of infrastructure and equipment, but not charges for economic use of the environment.

The reporting period was marked by a significant increase in the size of financial resources earmarked for environmental investments. After completion of the refinery expansion under the 10+ Programme, which resulted in the increased processing capacity of the entire plant, Grupa LOTOS focused on improving the performance of units built prior to 2008. These investments were intended to increase energy efficiency of individual components, reduce consumption of consumables, minimise fugitive emissions, and redirect flare gas.

In 2012, Grupa LOTOS carried out an initiative to reduce the impact of its products on the environment. The Company, having advanced technologies at its disposal and making the best use of raw materials, developed a technology for the production of Group II base oil of low viscosity, according to the classification by API (American Petroleum Institute).

Group II base oil has a high content (> 90% m/m) of saturated hydrocarbons, and low content of resins and aromatic hydrocarbons. It is a mineral base oil with improved quality, resulting from its viscosity of about 120 and sulphur content of less than 0.03% m/m. The new oil is produced from crude oil, using modern technologies that yield a product with a modified composition and hydrocarbon structure. The raw material used in its preparation is a narrow fraction of vacuum distillate derived from the hydrocracking of paraffin fractions. The use of base oils with low sulphur and aromatics content for the production of lubricating oil helps to reduce the negative impact of oil on the environment.

In addition to the Group II base oil, we also started to produce wax with very low sulphur content. The parameters of the low-sulphur wax, produced on the basis of paraffin fractions, are consistent with the requirements of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for products intended for contact with food. Positive feedback from the FDA is an indicator of the high quality of the product and confirmation that it has no adverse effects on health.

In 2012, a number of large scale environmental investments were also carried out by some of the LOTOS Group’s companies:

• LOTOS Asfalt completed air-tightening of bitumen dispatch facilities, which was carried out using a road tanker loading facility and rail tankers in Gdańsk.
• In LOTOS Jasło, two storage tanks have been modernised with geomembrane linings.
• LOTOS Kolej completed the construction of the most technologically advanced tanker cleaning facility in Poland. Ensuring the air-tightness of technological processes, change of the cleaning technology, and use of the latest equipment reduced the consumption of utilities and generation of oily wastewater. Hydrocarbon emissions were eliminated and OHS conditions were improved.
• Since 2011, LOTOS Paliwa has been using renewable energy sources in the heat pumps installed in the newly built Premium service stations. In 2011-2012, these pumps were installed in 10 stations.
• In LOTOS Petrobaltic, an installation for re-pumping of discharge water was modernised. On the LOTOS Geonafta rigs, old fluorescent lighting was replaced with modern LED lights. In LOTOS Norge, a replacement system for hazardous chemical substances was introduced to reduce the amount of hazardous waste generated. Altogether, seven substances were classified for replacement.

The effect of these undertakings, apart from measurable economic benefits, is the reduction of the organisation's negative environmental impact in its activities, which is illustrated by the declining trend in data concerning fees for use of the environment.

Our business profile dictates certain statutory costs associated with the use of the environment. The noticeable fall in expenses incurred by air emissions was driven by the LOTOS Group's environmental investments, chiefly including the use of natural gas in the production of hydrogen and fuel at Grupa LOTOS' CHP plant.