Oil companies – like their counterparts in other sectors – are struggling to meet the ever rising expectations of corporate responsibility. As recently as a decade or so ago, a ‘responsible’ company was one that made a profit without breaking any laws or causing any high-profile disasters or scandals. The term now implies much great accountability for – as well as a higher degree of transparency on – the environmental and social dimensions of a company’s operations.

The Oil Sector Report is the first of a series of sector-focused studies to examine how individual industries are addressing the expanding environmental and social reporting agenda. The report is part of an ongoing partnership between the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and SustainAbility, which aims to promote expanded company reporting and stakeholder engagement across the ‘triple bottom line’ – the environmental, social, and economic dimensions of a company’s activities – in all sectors.