Achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals in the Oil and Gas Sector Through Risk Management

The oil and gas sector is one of the major industries facing pressure to make a significant contribution to the achievement of the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of 2030. This is mainly because the activities of companies in this sector have a direct and substantial influence on many SDG actions such as the drastic reduction in air emissions, hazardous waste, rate of injuries, and the provision of clean sustainable sources of energy. Companies in the sector struggle to meet these goals due to the processes they undertake as well as the unique hazards and risks that they face. We recommend that the successful achievement of these goals by petrochemical (oil) companies is strongly linked to the risk management systems they have in place. These risk management approaches vary from the elimination of hazard and risk sources to their substitution and/or setting up engineering controls. An analysis of the current efforts in the sector reveals that oil companies are far from achieving the UN SDGs and further work is required to close this gap. We conclude by discussing directions for future action and policies that the sector should pursue to address the inherent hazards, risks, and overarching global impacts that have been illuminated.