The EO100™ Standard: Independent, Transparent, Comprehensive, and Robust

The certification of natural gas is a critical business strategy to demonstrate to all stakeholders  – employees, communities, investors, buyers, and LNG offtakers –  that operators along the natural gas value chain are operating in an environmentally and socially conscious manner. 

As certification increases in strategic importance, there is an increase in demand for a certified product and in the number of certifying organizations seeking to meet this demand.  We encourage those thinking of certification to carefully review the key characteristics of the certification choices for these key elements: independence, transparency, conflict of interest avoidance and technical soundness.  Not all certification schemes can offer these elements.

What sets Equitable Origin’s EO100 Standard for Responsible Energy Development certification process apart from the others? 

  1. Independence.   Equitable Origin (EO) is a  non-profit organization and thus not financially dependent or connected to any one special interest. Importantly, the EO100 assessment program is 100% Independent, our approved third-party assessment bodies provide an objective, bias-free review with no financial or commercial stake in any potential assessment outcomes.   Individuals working for assessment bodies must: 
    • Meet EO assessor competency requirements
    • Complete EO100 assessor training modules
    • Disclose potential and avoid actual conflicts of interest

2.Transparency. The EO100 Standard for Responsible Energy Development is 100% transparent. It is not a “black box”; both the overarching standard that encompasses all forms of energy development, and the technical supplements are publicly available on our website. Equitable Origin is a stakeholder-based system and our commitment to continuous engagement with companies, communities, Indigenous organizations, civil society, NGOs, investors and financial institutions, government agencies and industry associations informs everything we do.  Our standards are developed transparently through our Technical Committee of experts, consultation with stakeholders and open public comment periods. 

3. Comprehensiveness across all ESG elements – The EO100 Standard covers the entire ESG spectrum.  No other certification program is as robust or thorough, truly ensuring an independent certification of responsible energy development across all aspects of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices. Our nearly  500 performance targets cover:

    1. Corporate governance, transparency,, and ethics
    2. Community engagement, human rights, and community investment
    3. Indigenous People’s rights
    4. Occupational health, safety, and fair labor
    5. Climate change, biodiversity, and environment

4. Advanced technical and quantitative assessment criteria. The Technical Supplement for Natural Gas and Light Oil Production has just been updated which adds additional performance targets for increased transparency. Illustrative performance target updates include:

        1. Greenhouse Gases:
          1. Ensuring corporate commitment to the Paris Agreement and corporate targets showing progress towards net zero by 2050
          2. Higher level targets for reporting and disclosing scope 3 value-chain emissions
          3. Disclosure of methane intensity
          4. New overall GHG intensity quantification methodology under development which will encourage annual GHG intensity reductions and enable value chain GHG accounting
          5. Updated methane management best practices
          6. Eliminating routine and non-routine venting
          7. Moving towards zero routine flaring
        2. Rigorous targets for proper treatment of assets at end-of-life
        3. Criteria for local ambient air quality impact evaluation
        4. Targets for fugitive dust management
        5. Enhanced disclosure and accountability for chemical use and management
        6. Ensuring  wellbore integrity to reduce risk of contact with aquifers
        7. Encouragement of higher water recycling rates and disclosure

Trusted certification based on independence, transparency, comprehensiveness and robust quantitative as well as qualitative criteria is the foundation of the EO100 Standard for Responsible Energy Development.  We give companies the tools they need to showcase their environmental, social and governance practices and provide a roadmap for continuous improvement and further elevated performance over time.  Certification applies to all aspects of upstream production including active and inactive wells, compressor stations, gathering and boosting, and other associated infrastructure to avoid selectively choosing only the best or newest facilities for certification.  Certification imparts companies with a competitive advantage over their peers and can garner a premium in the marketplace with some buyers willing to pay more for production from certified sites. 

As the first and only comprehensive ESG standard for the energy sector, the EO100™ Standard and certification has become the benchmark in the industry.

To learn more, please contact us