Implementing member-countries of the global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) have adopted the revised 2023 EITI Standard with a renewed commitment to support the implementation of the global energy transition agenda.
The revised Standard was unveiled on the eve of the EITI Global Conference held between June 13 and 15 in Dakar, Senegal on the theme “Transparency in transition.”
The EITI Global Conference discussed good practices and strategies for implementing the new EITI Standard to enhance value creation for the people from the exploitation of natural resources.
The revised Standard, which highlights key changes to the previous EITI Standard, was adopted by the 57 member-countries, including Nigeria, whose representatives were among the more than 1,300 participants from about 60 countries at the first Global Conference of the global transparency group to be held in Africa since its establishment more than 20 years ago.
The revised EITI Standard, the fourth edition for global transparency and good governance of the oil, gas and mining sector, aims at increasing understanding of the impact of the energy transition, help address corruption risks, promote gender equity, and improve revenue collection across implementing countries.
The amended EITI Standard includes several new and refined provisions that would enable countries to respond to the most pressing challenges concerning natural resource governance.
The standard would strengthen EITI disclosures and governance requirements to improve understanding of the impact of the energy transition, address corruption risks, promote gender equity and strengthen revenue collection.
The EITI Standard first introduced in 2013 has been updated at regular intervals to respond to an evolving sector and stakeholder needs.
Recent amendments were agreed by the multi-stakeholder EITI Board, which gathered representatives from implementing and supporting countries, industry and civil society.
The highlights of key changes to the previous EITI Standard designed to promote good governance by enhancing transparency, strengthening accountability and facilitating public debate about the management of natural resources in a changing global context.
These cover four thematic areas, namely anti-corruption; energy transition; gender, social and environmental issues, 2023 as well as revenue collection.
In terms of anti-Corruption, new provisions in the revised standard seek to enhance opportunities for countries and companies to use the EITI platform to identify and address corruption risks in the natural resource sector.
On energy transition, the new provisions would support disclosures and public debate on the impacts of the energy transition by shedding light on relevant policies, as well as the revenues that countries could expect to receive from their oil, gas and minerals under different market scenarios.
The provisions on gender, social and environmental issues would help ensure natural resources were managed in the interest of all citizens, based on strengthened provisions on promoting greater diversity in decision-making and disclosures that consider gender, social and environmental issues.
The new and refined provisions on revenue collection would require more comprehensive and detailed disclosures, which could help countries strengthen their tax base and raise revenues from the operations of their extractive industries companies.
In her foreword to the revised EITI Standard, EITI Board Chair, Helen Clark affirmed that the Standard has “helped to increase the relevance of EITI implementation to countries, and advances open and accountable management of natural resource within a shared responsibility framework across all stakeholders.”
Since its launch more than a decade ago, the EITI Standard has established a common set of rules governing what extractive industry companies pay to the government and what the government should disclose and when.
