The importance of this Standard

GRI 11: Oil and Gas Sector 2021 addresses the pressing need for consistent and complete reporting on the complexity of transparency demands facing the sector. Not only does it facilitate the disclosures related to the impacts of the sector's present-day operations, but also how oil and gas organizations are changing their ways of working in support of the future transition to a low-carbon economy. Signposting the way for oil and gas companies to address their shared impacts on the economy, the environment and people, this Sector Standard supports any oil and gas organization – irrespective of location, specialism or size – to effectively disclose its most significant impacts, providing the information that stakeholders require to assess a company’s sustainability opportunities and risks. ​

​In effect for reporting from 1 January 2023, the GRI Oil and Gas Sector Standard 2021 is freely available for download now. We encourage its early adoption.​

This Standard is intended to be used with the revised GRI Universal Standards 2021 and the GRI Topic Standards. 

Basis for conclusions

The public comment period for the exposure draft of the Standard ran from 8 July to 6 October 2020. ​

​The Basis for conclusions for the GRI Oil and Gas Sector Standard 2021 provides a summary of the significant issues raised through public comments. A complete record of the received comments can be found here. It also provides a summary of how the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB) responded to these comments based on the Working Group's discussions and recommendations during the finalization of the Standards.

About this project

The development of this standard was prioritized based on the sector’s widely documented impacts across economic, environmental, and social dimensions.​

An expert multi-stakeholder Working Group was appointed by the GSSB – an independent body responsible for setting the GRI Standards.​

Though the project originally intended to create a Standard applicable to oil, gas, and coal, during the course of the project, the GSSB decided to split its scope and develop separate standards instead – one for oil and gas, and one for coal. The development of these standards follows different timelines. For more information, please consult the meeting paper .​

The project follows the GSSB’s Due Process Protocol, the implementation of which will be overseen by the Due Process Oversight Committee.​

​The Standard for coal was launched in 2022. Learn more and download GRI 12: Coal Sector 2022 on the project webpage.