A common toolkit towards a 1.5 future
Despite overwhelming consensus – most recently from the International Energy Agency (IEA) – that the oil and gas sector’s current business models are incompatible with efforts to mitigate climate change, the vast majority of oil and gas companies appear to be continuing with business as usual; either not realising the need or simply not choosing to act at the speed and scale required to avert the crisis.
We all witnessed the cataclysmic day for some of the world’s most influential oil and gas companies last month, in which legislative and shareholder action signaled a sea change in efforts to tackle the climate crisis by increasing pressure on major companies to reduce their carbon emissions. It’s critical we continue this momentum, effectively and collectively.
In order to do this, we, at the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA), believe there is a need to look behind the curtains of company disclosure and attain a better understanding of actual performance. To what extent are companies investing capital expenditure in low-carbon technologies? Are companies setting ambitious enough targets and then ensuring their performance is on track to those goals through planning and analysis? Is management within the company representative enough of the expertise, influence and leadership needed to reimagine their business models? We see huge value in having more answers to these key questions and believe that these details will be crucial to enabling diverse stakeholders in the design and execution of robust next steps to tackle this crisis.
That’s why we are excited to be launching the World Benchmarking Alliance’s Oil and Gas Benchmark – in the coming weeks. This benchmark will bring to public view the first comprehensive assessment of the oil and gas sector using the IEA’s Net-Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario (NZE), which is aligned with a 50% chance of limiting long-term temperature rise to 1.5 °C degrees without a temperature overshoot.
The benchmark operationalises Assessing Low-Carbon Transition (ACT) methodologies and leverages CDP’s extensive database and expertise to assess the 100 most influential companies’ in this industry on their past, present and future state of alignment in the transition to a low carbon economy. The ranking will highlight the leaders and laggards whilst delivering in-depth data which will enable diverse stakeholders to build on existing actions. The benchmark will provide clarity on what companies are, can and should be doing; levelling the playing field of what is disclosed and increasing transparency which will be crucial for financial actors and policymakers to steer the low-carbon transition effectively and collectively.
These forward looking publicly available assessments, which will be launched at the UN High Level Political Forum in mid-July, will present a common toolkit with the 1.5 trajectory at its core.
Interested in more? Attend our webinar on key findings:
So, if you are looking for answers to these questions or are reflecting on what to do next as we move into the second half of 2021, register here to attend our webinar on Tuesday 13 July at 09:00-10:15 EST / 14:00-15:15 BST / 15:00-16:15 CEST where we will present the key findings from the Oil and Gas Benchmark.
Feel free to get in touch with Nikki Gwilliam-Beeharee (Investor Engagement Lead) at n.gwilliam@worldbenchmarkingalliance.org and Vicky Sins (Decarbonisation and Energy Transformation Lead) at v.sins@worldbenchmarkingalliance.org