Abstract
Sustainability reporting is one of the tools that contribute to incorporating sustainable development in the design of extractive operations (i.e., “Design for Sustainability”), and the demand for sustainability reports is increasing due to the increased focus on sustainable development and sustainable financing efforts. The extractive industries are believed to have unique strengths to contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Nonetheless, companies are expected to be transparent and accountable not only to investors but to all stakeholders, including communities, suppliers, clients, employees, and governments. Therefore, extractive industries require effective sustainability accounting and reporting to transition and contribute to sustainable development. Through a data-driven approach, this paper examines the scope and consistency of sustainability indicators used in the sustainability reports of eight oil and gas and eight mining companies from 2012 to 2018. Through content analysis and relevant statistical methods, we analyze the ways in which companies reported on their contributions to sustainable development, with a focus on indicators used and trends over time both within each industry and between industries. We demonstrate that extractive industries’ sustainability reporting practices are not consistent over time and that internal issues are better represented than external issues, in particular transportation and supply chain issues. Furthermore, while there are similar trends across the industries in terms of social and environmental indicator reporting, there are significant differences in economic reporting. We conclude that although both industries have established sustainability reporting practices, there are trends that demonstrate what companies are focusing on more, as well as areas for improvement. We see this as an initial step for conceptualizing how these industries can more objectively, consistently, and effectively assess and contribute to sustainable development.
Highlights
Introduction published maps and institutional affilMany environmental disasters and human rights incidents that have attracted public concern over the last five decades have taken place in the mining and oil and gas industries [1]
This indicator set was compiled by reviewing mining-related sustainability literature in scientific journals, guideline documents produced by international organizations, including the GRI, the United Nations (UN), the World Bank (WB), the Organization for Economic
Both industries reported a higher proportion of social indicators than the other indicator subsets, but mining companies reported more social and environmental indicators than oil and gas companies, which reported on environmental indicators at a relatively low rate (37%)
Summary
Many environmental disasters and human rights incidents that have attracted public concern over the last five decades have taken place in the mining and oil and gas industries [1]. Both industries have been a focus of debates about environmental sustainability and social responsibility [2], and companies belonging to the extractive industries generally have been subjected to more stakeholder pressure than others [3,4]. As a result many companies publish yearly sustainability reports to publicly broadcast their economic, environmental, and social impacts and their contributions to sustainable development [5,6]. The need for indicators to evaluate sustainability and guide the sustainable development process was initially raised by Agenda 21 at the Rio Conference iations.
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