Total, Hess and OMV lead on sustainability in oil and gas

Oekom Research has named Total, Hess and OMV as the best performing oil and gas companies in terms of sustainability. The German analysis firm scored companies in areas including their climate protection strategy, shift to low-carbon and non-fossil energy sources and accident prevention.

Oekom initially evaluated the 149 oil and gas companies in the MSCI World Index, MSCI Emerging Markets Index and Stoxx 500, and performed a detailed rating of the 26 companies with the highest levels of disclosure around sustainability issues. Austria-based OMV, France’s Total and US-based Hess made the top three, all scoring B- on a scale from A+ to D-.

For example, all 26 companies examined in detail have stated commitments to climate protection, but only Hess, Total and Norway’s Statoil have set specific greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets.

Higher oil prices and the pressure to keep reserve replacement rates high have tempted companies to exploit unconventional energy reserves as quickly as possible rather than turn to renewable sources.

Oekom calls for policy-makers to drive change – saying that past experience has shown that voluntary initiatives by the sector have failed to spur sufficient environmental and climate protection targets in the industry.