IPIECA, the global oil and gas industry association for advancing environmental and social performance, has a plan for sustainable development. The organization, in collaboration with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), has released a roadmap for the oil and gas industry to help meet the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
The report, “Accelerating Action: An SDG Roadmap for the Oil and Gas Sector,” identifies how IPIECA and oil and gas companies can work toward a low-emissions future while contributing to a healthier and more prosperous world aligned with the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
IPIECA says the roadmap was developed in response to the critical need for concerted action and coordinated solutions as the world approaches the 2030 deadline, with the global COVID-19 pandemic reversing progress on many of the SDGs.
“Achieving the SDGs by 2030 will require unprecedented collaboration,” said IPIECA Executive Director Brian Sullivan. “The roadmap aligns the oil and gas industry around the SDGs, presenting a shared vision for transformational action and a platform to form cross-sector partnerships and alliances to achieve the SDGs.”
Building on the IPIECA report written with the United Nations Development Program and the International Finance Corporation, “Mapping the Oil and Gas Industry to the Sustainable Development Goals: An Atlas,” and the SDG Sector Roadmap guidelines developed by WBCSD in 2018, the roadmap outlines more than 90 actions—mapped against SDG targets—that go beyond business as usual and aim to catalyze the realization of the goals.
“We hope that this important roadmap can help to establish a standard for global best practice with regard to how the oil and gas sector and its value chain can drive the transformations that are urgently needed to realize the ambitions of the SDGs on the road to 2030,” said WBCSD President and CEO Peter Bakker.
While the oil and gas industry has the potential contribute to all 17 SDGs, the roadmap highlights 10 SDGs where the industry can have the biggest effect by driving innovations in its own operations and across the supply chain. These 10 priority SDGs underpin eight opportunities grouped into three interconnected systemic themes of climate, nature, and people.
For each opportunity, the roadmap outlines pathways comprised of a series of short-, medium-, and long-term actions for IPIECA and oil and gas companies that involve scaling up good practices on climate action, environmental responsibility, and social performance while also recognizing the importance of the energy transition in realizing the world’s ambition to achieve net-zero emissions under the Paris Agreement.
The roadmap also identifies where to focus collaboration and provides a platform to form industry and cross-sector partnerships to further amplify effects on the SDGs.
The launch of the roadmap forms part of the ongoing strategic efforts of IPIECA and its members to align the sector around the SDGs.