Claudia Belahmidi

As capital markets increasingly scrutinize the energy transition, a practical question confronts every oil and gas producer: does sustainability performance actually change the cost of financing — and if so, by how much? This session presents new empirical evidence that it does. Across the sector, a 10-point improvement in ESG score is associated with roughly a 37 basis-point reduction in weighted average cost of capital - an economically meaningful effect that moves the ESG conversation from narrative to numbers.

Crucially, the effect is not uniform. The session examines how it varies with corporate governance and ownership structure (state-owned, listed, and concentrated ownership), as well as with value-chain position (upstream, midstream, downstream) and market conditions (developed versus emerging). For executives, investors, and policymakers, the takeaway is concrete. Sustainability is increasingly a financial variable, not a reputational one, and governance shapes how strongly it is rewarded. The session closes with implications for how hydrocarbon companies in the Gulf and beyond can position themselves with capital providers.