Environmental protection. Social progress. Freedom. The absence of violence and terrorism. These are some of the factors that measure a country’s performance in environmental, social and governance (ESG) indicators.  Among the world’s top oil reserve holders, Canada ranks number one across the board. Which makes it all the more staggering that as prices surge and the world’s energy security crisis deepens, world leaders – including Canada and the United States – are turning to nations other than Canada to increase supply. 

Consider OPEC heavyweight Saudi Arabia, where U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to travel next month to ask for more oil production. Saudi Arabia’s ESG performance is substantially lower than Canada’s.  

That’s according to rankings derived from three independent global indexes: Yale University’s Environmental Performance Index, the Social Progress Imperative Index, and the World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators.  

The Canadian Energy Centre (CEC) developed a ranking system for the environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance of the world’s top oil reserve holding countries. The methodology builds on analysis by BMO Capital Markets in a series of ESG reports about Canadian oil.

To create the “label” for oil, CEC selected a group of countries from around the world to rank by identifying the top 10 oil reserve holders, using data published in the most recent BP Statistical Review of World Energy.

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These countries were then ranked as their own group based on their position globally in separate rankings defined by three recognized global benchmark indexes: the Yale Environmental Performance Index, the Social Progress Imperative Index, and the World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators.

CEC also included a Freedom Rating for each country based on the most recent assessment by Freedom House.

Click here to compare Canada’s ESG rankings among the world’s top 10 oil reserve holding countries, which also include Venezuela, Iran, Iraq, Russia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, United States, and Libya.