Corporations are under increasing pressure – from investors, advocacy groups, stakeholders, and employees – to enhance performance across various ESG dimensions, as there is heightened social, governmental, and consumer attention on the broader impact of corporations. Pursuing these ESG-related performance improvements should not be viewed as a burden, as a strong ESG proposition can safeguard a company’s long-term success. Significant research has confirmed that companies that pay attention to ESG concerns deliver improved value creation and a reduced downside risk. This is evidenced by the surge in ESG-oriented investing, as global sustainable investment is forecasted to reach $41 trillion by year end, up from $31 trillion at the start of 2018.

Unfortunately, the path to ESG performance improvements has mostly been a singular journey, as every organization has been trying to define and establish their own sustainability agenda. A common thread across all of these organizational initiatives is a concentrated focus on understanding how their extended supply chains are helping or hurting them on their journey. In pursuit of this, organizations have initiated supplier-related ESG data collection activities, but these efforts have been conducted in siloes and run in parallel to their industry peers – all of whom are chasing the same goals and objectives.

Other industries have realized that for the common good, it makes sense to work together across their ecosystem to share supplier-related ESG data and insights. By doing so, they have been able to significantly reduce the costs and time associated with generating a holistic view of how their suppliers are performing across various dimensions, to include Scope 3 emissions. The same opportunity is available for the Oil & Gas industry, as a joint effort to collecting and sharing ESG data and insights will reduce the cost burden associated with ESG performance improvements and enhanced transparency for all stakeholders.