Oil and gas companies operating in Brazil adhere to GRI-G4 essential sustainability indicators: a critical review

In order to disseminate their actions towards sustainable development, oil companies present, on a voluntary basis, sustainability reports based on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines. This work analyzes how the sustainability reports from year 2015 of four oil companies and one service provider in oil and gas segment operating in Brazil adhere to the specific core indicators of the economic, environmental and social categories, proposed by the current version of GRI guidelines. One important oil company was not included in the analysis because it does not adopt GRI guidelines in the elaboration of its sustainability report. The study adopted both qualitative and quantitative approaches to sustainability reports enabling a critical analysis of companies’ sustainability performances. The radar-type graphic method was applied to quantify the index of adherence to the indicators in each company’s sustainability report. The purpose of the study was to identify gaps in the sustainability reports as sustainability management tools for oil companies and demonstrate that these documents are only a means for companies to report their sustainable actions and take benefits for their images. The study concluded on the lack of full adherence to GRI guidelines and points to the need to develop a system of indicators more resolvable and capable of measuring the sustainability performance of oil companies, down to the level of operating units. Graphical abstract