Full Title: Know Your Oil and Gas: Generating Climate Intelligence to Cut Petroleum Industry Emissions
Author(s): Sasha Bylsma, Carmela Chaney, Deborah Gordon, Jonathan Koomey, Lauren Schmeisser
Publisher(s): Rocky Mountain Institute
Publication Date: December 12, 2025
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
Oil and gas are currently the most actively traded commodities in the world. These resources are used to make petroleum products for transportation, heat, and power; as industrial inputs to make chemicals and plastics; and to manufacture durable goods like medicine, clothing, paints, and roadways. Armed with knowledge about oil and gas, market actors, policymakers, and consumers can successfully lessen waste, bolster energy security, safeguard citizens, and target and implement emissions reductions. We can manage what we measure.
Know Your Oil and Gas 2025 presents total and disaggregated life-cycle emissions intensity estimates for approximately 70% of the world’s oil and natural gas supplies. The Oil Climate Index plus Gas (OCI+) compares emissions for equivalent global barrels through each asset’s life cycle, from production, processing, refining, transport, storage, and end uses.
The implications are far-reaching. Not only do oil and gas life-cycle emissions vary widely, but there are also superemitters that can be tackled quickly for rapid action. By quantifying and differentiating oil and gas, OCI+ helps industry, governments, and consumers to incorporate externalities into their market transactions. With the intelligence generated in this report, companies, investors, policymakers, and civil society can target their efforts to increase efficiency, cut costs, bolster energy security, and combat damages due to global warming.