Ipieca: Guiding the global energy industry through a sustainable transition

As the global energy system evolves, few organisations sit as squarely at the crossroads of industry and sustainability as Ipieca.

The industry association’s stated aim is to advance the environmental and social performance of oil and gas firms around the world.

“We have two main roles. One is to be the link between the industry and the UN on environmental and social issues. The other is to share and promote knowledge around these issues across the industry,” Ipieca’s CEO Brian Sullivan tells Petroleum Economist.

Representatives from the organisation will be involved in discussions at the 25th WPC Energy Congress, taking place from 26–30 April 2026 in Riyadh, which will focus on how the global energy sector can transition to deliver a low-carbon system that also addresses social, environmental and economic challenges.

Tackling these issues remains as important as ever for members, according to Sullivan.

“We haven’t seen evidence of a reduced focus on these challenges from our perspective,” he said. “The industry is always responding to market conditions or geopolitical realities, but the interest in this has remained strong among both our long-standing membership and our growing pool of new members.”

For Sullivan, who spent two-thirds of his career in the downstream commercial side of the oil and gas business before joining Ipieca, one lesson from his industry days remains central: always keep the customer—or in this case, the member—at the heart of decision-making.

“The members are the drivers in terms of our strategy and our work programme, our priorities, and it’s very important to keep them at the centre of it all so that we remain relevant to their needs throughout,” he said.

That industry connection gives Ipieca its unique position: convening companies to share good practice, develop guidance and align environmental and social performance standards across the global sector.

Priority areas

Ipieca’s technical work covers a wide range of issues, but two areas stand out: energy efficiency, and flaring and methane reduction.

“Energy efficiency is the ultimate no-brainer,” said Sullivan. “It reduces emissions and has a very clear financial business case.”

Working jointly with the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP), Ipieca has developed an ‘Energy Efficiency Compendium’, a resource cataloguing technologies and operational improvements across the industry.

On methane reduction, Ipieca this year produced guidance on abatement technologies developed in collaboration with the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI), the Energy Institute, and the IOGP. An online technology-filtering tool to aid deployment was released alongside the guidance, featuring detailed data sheets and decision trees covering over 50 technologies.

Ipieca also produces a soon-to-be-updated resource mapping the major international collaborations on methane.

“Methane is a very crowded space now,” Sullivan noted. “There are over 120 major international initiatives, beyond what individual companies are doing themselves. Our role is to help bring clarity, collaboration and consistency.”

The organisation supports the World Bank’s ‘Zero Routine Flaring by 2030’ initiative and the OGCI’s ‘Aiming for Zero Methane Emissions’ framework.

Stewardship beyond emissions

Whilst emissions remain the dominant theme of the energy transition, Ipieca’s scope covers other critical areas—most notably, water usage.

“Water is a long-standing focus for us,” said Sullivan. “Our work started years ago with a global water tool to help companies map their operations against areas of water stress, and a site-level evaluation to help companies identify the priority risks for each individual site.”

Most recently, the organisation has produced guidance around water stewardship, aiming to provide practical support for companies looking to reduce their impact in this area. The guidance aligns with global frameworks such as the Alliance for Water Stewardship, of which Ipieca is a member. It provides shared terminology, defines key concepts, and outlines a mitigation hierarchy—from avoidance to replenishment—designed to help companies act responsibly within local watersheds.

“This is going to be a big area for both industry and society in the coming years,” said Sullivan. “We’re exploring partnerships with think tanks, NGOs and UN agencies to scale up our work on freshwater sustainability.”

Transition focus and emerging optimism

One technology area giving Sullivan particular optimism for the future is CCUS. Some 78% of Ipieca members now have CCUS initiatives or plans.

“CCUS is gaining real recognition as a vital part of the solution,” he said. “A lot of policymakers who have previously made quite unsupportive remarks about CCUS are now recognising its benefits, and we’re starting to see progress.”

He cites Norway’s Northern Lights project—Europe’s first open-access CO₂ transport and storage network—which made its first storage injections in August, as a landmark.

“It’s not just an oil and gas project,” he explained. “It’s an industrial hub capturing CO₂ and using the industry’s expertise in gas transport and storage to make it work. It shows the business model can function across the value chain.”

Momentum is building globally, from the US—where projects have benefited from strong policy support—to new cross-border collaborations in Southeast Asia.

“The CCUS sector doesn’t need to prove the technology anymore,” said Sullivan. “Now it’s about scaling business models that make it viable. And that’s starting to happen.”

Accountability through principles

While Ipieca does not monitor member performance directly, it helps shape how sustainability is reported across the sector. Its sustainability reporting guidance aligns with major frameworks such as the Global Reporting Initiative and includes indicators for water, climate, biodiversity and social issues.

Membership is underpinned by the Ipieca Principles, launched a few years ago, which set expectations across four themes: climate, nature, people and sustainability. These principles align with the Paris Agreement, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

“Members joining Ipieca are signing up to an organisation that reflects those commitments,” said Sullivan.

A global bridge for a complex future

Forecasts for oil and gas demand vary, but most now accept a role for these fuels well past 2030. As long as firms are meeting this demand, Ipieca will continue to help them reduce their environmental footprint.

“Whether it’s helping companies as they adopt technologies to mitigate emissions or ensuring that new energy technologies are held to the same high standards as existing ones, we will continue to support the industry,” said Sullivan.

“What we’re working towards is an accelerated industry contribution to a sustainable world—one with a stable climate, flourishing biodiversity and thriving communities.”