Many oil and gas companies have made public commitments to sustainable development since the 1992 Earth Summit. However in the run up to Rio+10, few, if any, companies can claim to have substantially altered the perceptions of the public, customers, NGOs and others. It is evident that measures such as EHS policies, ISO14001 certification and public reporting are not sufficient to convince internal and external stakeholders. In addition, a piecemeal approach is unlikely to capture the full range of sustainability risks and opportunities. This paper argues that this can only be done through the development and implementation of a corporate sustainability strategy and suggests a six stage methodology for such a course of action.

Keywords:
objective, society of petroleum engineers, key issue, operation, sustainability, upstream oil & gas, criteria, external stakeholder, sustainable development, assurance
Subjects:
Sustainability/Social Responsibility, Social responsibility and development, Sustainable development
Copyright 2002, Society of Petroleum Engineers
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