The rating investigated the transparency level of 19 companies and scaled the impact of their activities on the environment. Compared to 2017, the level of information transparency of Kazakhstani oil and gas companies increased both in the number of disclosed environmental aspects of their activities and in the quality of their disclosure. The average score increased for each of the sections and for the rating as a whole (0.51 in 2018 against 0.43 in 2017). The most significant increase in transparency in the section of quantitative indicators of environmental impact (0.6 in 2018 vs. 0.39 in 2017)

The 2018 rating confirmed the success of last year’s leaders and revealed new names. Sakhalin Energy became the winner once again, Zarubezhneft took the second place, and Exxon NL took the third place. For the first time, the winners in each of the three sections of the rating were awarded with commemorative diplomas: Surgutneftegaz and Zarubezhneft shared the leadership in the field of Environmental Management, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium-R (CPC) became the leader in the Environmental Impact section, and LUKOIL was awarded as the most transparent oil company.

In 2017, the results of the rating were presented to an international audience at a CREON conference in Berlin. More than 100 participants discuss “ecological responsibility in the Russian energy sector”. They agreed, that Russia is on the way to become a “greener” economy. The demand for “green” technologies creates investment opportunities. The event was supported by the Eastern Committee of the German Economy (OAOEV), the Russian-German Chamber of Commerce (AHK) and the United Nations Development Program.

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Almost all rating participants brought the share of highly environmentally friendly fuel to almost 100%, so the corresponding criterion was removed from the methodology. In the test mode, new criteria were introduced that assess the programs of companies to increase the oil recovery factor, R&D in energy production from renewables, the quality of trainings for the elimination of emergency oil spills, and the availability of environmental monitoring reports to the public.

Several changes to the rating methodology have been made. Additionally to a corporate program for the preservation of biodiversity, rating experts also take into account what measures oil and gas companies are taking to eliminate the consequences of accidents and resolve conflicts. The criterion counting the dynamics of greenhouse gas emissions has become quantitative and has been transferred to the section “Impact on the environment”. As a framework criterion, the promotion of “green office” principles inside the companies’ strategies has been introduced.

For the first time, Transneft as the monopoly operator of the main oil pipelines in Russia was included. A criterion was added to the rating, forcing oil companies to have a program for the preservation of biodiversity in the regions of presence, with parameters as “costs for biodiversity conservation projects” and “level of accessibility of biodiversity documentation”. The section “Environmental management” was supplemented with two criteria: “activities of contractors in the field of environmental protection” and “voluntary insurance of environmental risks”.

The first rating included 19 leading Russian oil and gas companies, which were compared in the categories of environmental management, environmental impact and information disclosure / transparency. The rating score for each company was calculated using 28 criteria. The leading positions were taken by Surgutneftegaz, Sakhalin Energy and Gazprom. The rating revealed a number of regularities: the level of transparency of the “parent” companies turned out to be higher than that of the subsidiaries. Almost all companies have implemented the ISO 14001 certificate.