Why the question is being asked
Access to capital for energy projects increasingly depends on credible sustainability data. Development banks, commercial lenders and project-finance houses have built ESG assessment into their credit processes, and buyers of energy use the same data to weigh counterparty risk. A firm without measured emissions, documented environmental controls or a record of community engagement is likely to borrow on worse terms, or to be excluded from some pools of capital altogether.
The standards a Nigerian energy borrower is most likely to meet are well established. IFC’s eight Performance Standards on Environmental and Social Sustainability, in force since January 2012, govern IFC’s own clients and are also applied by other financial institutions. The Equator Principles, in their fourth version since 1 October 2020, set a common baseline for environmental and social risk in project finance; Access Bank and Fidelity Bank are signatories. The African Development Bank’s updated Integrated Safeguards System has applied since 31 May 2024. Nigerian banks themselves have been bound since 2012 by the Nigerian Sustainable Banking Principles, launched by the Central Bank of Nigeria with the Bankers’ Committee.
That is the commercial case. It does not require a view on the merits of any particular framework.
Start with materiality, not data
The first step is to decide which issues matter to the business and to the people it depends on: investors, lenders, regulators, communities and customers. For an oil and gas operator that may mean greenhouse gas emissions, flaring, water and community relations. For a renewables developer, land use, grid integration and workforce development may matter more. The list differs by subsector and by site.
A materiality assessment, done once and revisited, decides what gets measured. Firms that skip it tend to build data systems around metrics nobody uses, and to miss the ones a lender asks for first.
Own the data before reporting it
Reporting depends on knowing which site or division produces each number, how it travels to head office, who owns it and how it is checked before it is published. Operational systems hold thousands of daily readings; external reports need a small set of curated, auditable figures. The bridge between the two, whether spreadsheets, a dedicated platform or the finance system, should be documented and controlled.
Weak data architecture shows up as numbers that change between reports, questions from assurance providers that nobody can answer, and operational blind spots.
Emissions in an energy business
For energy companies the emissions inventory is the hardest part. Scope 1 covers direct emissions: flaring, fugitive methane, fuel burned in generation. Scope 2 covers purchased electricity. Scope 3 covers the value chain, including the use of sold products, which for a producer of fuels is usually the largest category by a wide margin. The IEA estimates that producing, transporting and processing oil and gas caused just under 15% of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions in 2022, and that using them caused another 40%. Seplat Energy’s figures show the same shape at company level: its 2025 integrated report gives scope 3 emissions for 2024 of 4.85 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent, almost all from the use of sold products, against 0.60 million tonnes for scope 1 and 2 combined, a ratio of about eight to one, although its scope 3 reporting covers only its onshore operations.
Each scope needs its own method and data. Flaring comes from production records; fugitive methane needs measurement campaigns or estimation models; electricity emissions depend on the grid’s carbon intensity; value-chain figures rely on customer data or sector averages. For Nigeria the choice of grid factor matters. Ember’s lifecycle estimates put the carbon intensity of Nigerian generation at about 452 grams of CO2-equivalent per kWh in 2025, down from about 496 in 2024 as hydro’s share of generation rose. The harmonised default factors used by the international financial institutions (version 3.2, April 2022) give Nigeria a combined-margin factor of about 358 grams of CO2 per kWh for electricity consumption and an operating-margin factor of about 526. A report should state which factor it uses and why. Building this capability is a multi-quarter effort and usually needs outside help at the start.
Credibility and assurance
Data without assurance is a claim. Third-party assurance, limited at first, signals that methods and controls meet a recognised standard. Many firms have not yet built the audit trails that make assurance possible; doing so early reduces its cost later.
The risk of overstatement runs the other way. Published claims that cannot be substantiated invite challenge, and the cost of a retraction, in financing terms and in reputation, is likely to exceed the cost of the assurance that would have caught it.
Where to start
Commission a materiality assessment that narrows the field to a handful of issues, with the board and finance leadership in the room.
Map the data behind each issue: source, owner and the route to head office.
Set a baseline year and accept that early numbers will be imperfect but documented.
Choose one framework and document how the material issues map to it. For Nigerian public interest entities the choice is being made for them: under the Financial Reporting Council’s roadmap, amended in February 2026, IFRS S1 and S2 are voluntary for periods ending on or before 31 December 2027 and mandatory for periods beginning on or after 1 January 2028, with assurance required from the third year of reporting, and the SEC has told public companies to file implementation plans by 15 October 2026. Do not attempt several at once.
Engage an assurance provider early, for advice on controls before the first audit.
Separate the people who produce a number from the people who report it.
Sources
IFC: Performance Standards on Environmental and Social Sustainability (1 January 2012)
Equator Principles Association: About the Equator Principles (accessed September 2026)
Equator Principles Association: Access Bank Plc, 2024 reporting (accessed September 2026)
Equator Principles Association: Fidelity Bank Plc, 2024 reporting (accessed September 2026)
ThisDay: Sustainable banking in Nigeria, a regulatory approach (12 October 2023)
IEA: Emissions from oil and gas operations in net zero transitions (3 May 2023)
Seplat Energy: Integrated Annual Report 2025, sustainability metrics (April 2026)
IFI Technical Working Group (UNFCCC): Harmonized IFI default grid factors, version 3.2 (April 2022)
