New Edition Offers Guidance on Sustainability Reporting
Authors: JPT staff _ 
Published: February 2015

The second edition of Oil and Gas Industry Guidance on Voluntary Sustainability Reporting has been issued by the International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA), the American Petroleum Institute (API), and the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (OGP).

An IPIECA Reporting Task Force, made up of more than 75 individuals from 20 IPIECA member companies and five trade associations, undertook the task of updating the guidelines from 2007 to 2010.  The guidance was developed to share good practice across the industry and to encourage companies, both current and new reporters, to keep their stakeholders informed about their performance.

The task force identified important and practical ways to measure sustainability performance in the oil and gas industry, including technical indicators. The second edition reflects feedback and improvements in reporting practices from many sources within and outside the industry. 

A fundamental part of the revision process was the involvement of an external stakeholder panel that advised on both the process and content of the guidance to ensure the delivery of an end product that was substantial, instructive, and credible. The panel consisted of leading experts in sustainability reporting practices and represented views of typical report reader groups, including business and industry, environmental and community-oriented nongovernmental organizations, investors, and multilateral institutions. The panel was asked to assess the quality, credibility, and effectiveness of the revision process and to provide ideas for improvement, and candid, significant, and challenging input was received. A joint statement from the stakeholder panel is included in the guidance.

How to Report?

The guidance recognizes that the industry includes differing types and sizes of multinational and national companies that face specific social and environmental challenges in different locations and that certain sustainability issues will be more important to some companies than to others. It places more emphasis in this revision on reporting as an engagement process and encourages companies to determine the issues that are most important for reporting to their own stakeholders. A range of issues are covered by the indicators that allow companies a choice on the depth and detail to be communicated. A significant front section on how to report has been included to assist those companies reporting for the first time as well as more experienced companies expanding their level of reporting. By providing flexibility and consistency, the guidance aims to serve both new and experienced reporters while avoiding the pitfalls of formulaic reporting. To support companies in communicating the issues of most interest to their stakeholders, the second edition of the guidance contains the following tools:

A six-step reporting process, including a “materiality” step to determine the most important issues for reporting.

A set of issues and indicators likely to be relevant for reporting by oil and gas companies.

Three levels of reporting elements within each indicator to provide options that enable consistent reporting across the industry.