Environmental rating of oil and gas companies in Russia: How assessment affects environmental transparency and performance

Abstract

The article discusses the evolution and current state of transparency of environmental performance data in the Russian Oil and Gas sector. We build upon our first‐hand experience in a transparent, publicly available information and third‐party‐verified rating system. Based on 2014–16 successive annual ratings, we conclude that implementing “soft” responsibility mechanisms can improve environmental responsibility standards and transparency in the oil and gas industry. At the same time, in terms of improving environmental performance of oil and gas companies it is reasonable to assume an emerging trend. Its full realization will require (1) longer rating time, including that for public exposure to misleading environmental performance information and the use of poorly verified nonfinancial reporting; (2) application of independent analysis of satellite monitoring information to the professional audit and public verification of nonfinancial reporting; and (3) sophistication of guidelines for professional audit and public verification of nonfinancial reports.

Greenwashing in environmental, social and governance disclosures

“…In the field of environmental disclosure, some previous studies (Bromley and Powell, 2012;Kirk and Vincent, 2014;Marquis et al, 2016) document that organizations often set out symbolic compliance rather than actual. For instance, some researchers (Berliner and Prakash, 2015;Shvarts et al, 2018) observe that the members of the UN Global Compact (UNGC) are sometimes inclined to downplay their commitments without improving their environmental practice although they enjoy the reputation of being green as being part of UNGC. Marquis et al (2016) also propose that firms with better environmental performance might greenwash less since they have less to hide.…”

Organizational mindfulness, mindful organizing, and environmental and resource sustainability

“…As mentioned earlier, this is why the sample of organizations in the oil and gas industry in Saudi Arabia is suitable and adopted for this study. Also, the need to focus on the oil and gas industry when assessing environmental sustainability has been highlighted in a recent article by Shvarts, Pakhalov, Knizhnikov, and Ametistova ().…”

Rosneft: lord of the rigs

“…Rosneft was ranked seventh in the 2018 World Wildlife Fund (WWF)/ Creon rating of the environmental performance of Russian oil and gas companies, which is a significant rise of ten places compared to 2017 (Shvarts et al 2018). It achieved this through substantial improvements in its information disclosure, despite having dropped ten places in the ranking for its environmental impact.…”