Quality assurance and certification provider Intertek announced today the launch of CarbonClear, a carbon intensity certification platform for the oil and gas industry. The new program is intended to enable producers to evaluate emissions across all stages of exploration and production, and to deliver a consistent cradle-to-gate validation of the carbon impact of producing one barrel of oil equivalent (BOE) across their entire oil and gas production portfolio, in aggregate or by field.

As the movement for clean energy sources gains global momentum, energy producers, and particularly oil and gas companies, have come under increasing pressure to measure and disclose the environmental impact of their operations. Investors have become increasingly vocal in the demand for carbon intensity information, yet a lack of clear standards makes comparability difficult. Intertek cited an independent survey of institutional investors, which found that over three-quarters of respondents surveyed said that they would actively use independent carbon certification data when deciding whether to invest into the sector, 90% want all Oil & Gas companies to adopt such a certification and 98% believe that doing so would help the industry to be more transparent and supportive of sustainability.

According to Intertek, while globally recognized frameworks for evaluating Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions are well established, oil & gas producers and investors are lack a framework that will allow for benchmarking production emissions against peers in the marketplace. The research found that over 90% of investors who were polled agreed that it is currently a challenge comparing the carbon reduction activities associated with the production of oil and gas. Intertek’s new CarbonClear platform aims to solve this problem by providing clarity and transparency through independent evaluation of producers’ oil and gas operations through the entire production process, and across all production types.

André Lacroix, Chief Executive Officer of Intertek, said:

“With the world having reached a tipping point in terms of sustainability, Oil & Gas producers need to measure, validate and differentiate their reported carbon emissions in order to deliver their role in the energy transition.

“But until now there has not been a consistent and transparent evaluation framework that enables companies to disclose and benchmark the emissions associated with the exploration and production stage of the energy cycle against peers in the marketplace.

“92% of investors recently surveyed said that it is a challenge comparing carbon reduction activities for production in the Oil & Gas industry while every fund manager said that they would consider using an independent carbon intensity certification program before deciding whether to invest in the Oil & Gas space.

“At Intertek, we have been supporting the needs of our energy clients over many decades with a real depth and breadth of innovative operational sustainability solutions. As the world’s first independent carbon intensity certification program for Oil & Gas producers, Intertek CarbonClear represents a major breakthrough innovation by providing the critical, end-to-end solution that the industry has been waiting for: the world’s first certification program that independently verifies the upstream carbon intensity per barrel of oil equivalent (BOE).

“Intertek is the industry-leading provider of Total Sustainability Assurance solutions, providing independent assurance services that enable businesses to demonstrate their end-to-end commitment to sustainability.

“As a purpose-led company, our mission is to make the world a better and safer place by bringing Quality, Safety and Sustainability to life. Our unrivalled footprint of over 1,000 labs and offices in more than 100 countries, along with our extensive knowledge of the Oil & Gas sector’s drive toward sustainable energy leaves us uniquely positioned, through Intertek CarbonClear, to help producers achieve the lowest carbon Oil & Gas production in the world and to Build Back Ever Better by delivering Carbon Transparency. Assured.”