The Reporting Task Force was established in 2002. Its purpose is to encourage voluntary sustainability reporting across the oil and gas industry and to help companies to improve the quality and consistency of reports.

The 2010 edition of the IPIECA, API and OGP Oil and gas industry guidance on voluntary sustainability reporting is available here. 

The issue

The oil and gas sector continues to provide essential energy for society’s development. IPIECA member companies also recognize that managing sustainability impacts associated with producing fuels and other energy products is an important responsibility. This includes addressing the challenges associated with climate change risks, and operating in remote and sensitive areas of the world.  IPIECA supports the industry in addressing these and other sustainability challenges. We also promote continuous performance improvement on environmental, health and safety, and socio-economic topics by developing and sharing good industry practices. An important practice is sustainability reporting. Clear and consistent reporting helps companies create a solid platform for productive engagement and performance improvement.

IPIECA activities

In 2002, IPIECA teamed up with the American Petroleum Institute (API) to sponsor the development of the Compendium of sustainability reporting practices and trends for the oil and gas industry.  This initiative led to the publication of the Oil and gas industry guidance on voluntary sustainability reporting in April 2005.

In 2008 a new Reporting Task Force was convened to update the 2005 report. The task force was sponsored by IPIECA together with API and the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (OGP), and had strong representation from companies within the industry. The task force had two main objectives: to obtain stakeholder feedback to improve the guidance; and to improve oil and gas reporting through the development of more precise indicators.

As part of this update process, IPIECA brought together a panel of external stakeholders to consult on the updated direction, scope and process. The expert panel members were as follows: 

• Tom Delfgaauw, Independent
• Roger Hammond, Living Earth
• Elizabeth McGeveran/Karina Litvack, F&C Asset Management
• Janet Ranganathan, World Resources Institute
• Motoko Aizawa/Louise Gardiner, International Finance Corporation

This second edition of the Oil and gas industry guidance on voluntary sustainability reporting incorporates a number of improvements  since the 2005 edition:

• The front section of the Guidance has been rewritten to include guidance on strategic context and key process steps for preparing sustainability reports.
• Guidance on determining materiality of issues for reporting has been introduced together with brief descriptions of the main sustainability issues for our industry.
• Greater definitional content has been provided for each revised indicator, including new ‘Reporting Elements’ that offer options for both new and mature reporters, as well as improve comparability.
• A number of environmental indicators have been consolidated and the social and economic sections have been merged.
• New indicators have been added to reflect changes in reporting practices since 2005, including one health and safety indicator on process safety, five social and economic indicators, focusing on local content and suppliers/business partners, and broadening the scope of the biodiversity indicator to include ecosystem services.
• Individual management system indicators have been removed in favour of integrated guidance.
• The guidance on reporting boundaries is more extensive.

To accompany the 2010 edition of the Oil and gas industry guidance on voluntary sustainability reporting IPIECA has developed:

• a list of frequently asked questions for those seeking further information about reporting, the process and content of the Guidance and IPIECA’s relationship with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and,
• a briefing presentation on sustainability reporting using the 2010 IPIECA, API and OGP Guidance has been developed to assist new reporters.

The Guidance has been endorsed by a number of oil and gas industry associations who are committed to promoting the practice of sustainability reporting to their members.  They include:

• American Petroleum Institute (API) co-author
• African Refiners’ Association (ARA)
• Regional Association of Oil and Gas Companies in Latin America and the Caribbean (ARPEL)
• The oil companies' European association for environment, health and safety in refining and distribution (CONCAWE)
• Canadian Petroleum Products Institute (CPPI)
• International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (OGP) co-author
• South African Petroleum Industry Association (SAPIA)
   

Please contact the Secretariat if you have any further queries or would like to request hard copies of the document.

Member action

The latest Member sustainability reports are available from the links below:

• BG Group (2010)
• BP (2010)
• Chevron (2010)
• CNOOC (2010)
• ConocoPhillips (2008)
• eni (2010)
• ExxonMobil (2010)
• Hess (2009)
• Marathon (2010)
• Maersk Oil (2010)
• Nexen (2010)
• Occidental Petroleum Corporation (2010)
• OMV (2010)
• Petrobras (2009)
• Petronas (2011)
• PTTEP (2010)
• Repsol (2009)
• Shell (2010)
• Statoil (2010)
• Talisman (2010)
• Total (2010)
• Woodside (2010)