If the world is to come anywhere near to meeting its climate-change goals, the oil and gas (O&G) industry will have to play a big part.

Published in 2020, a report by Mckinsey shows that the industry’s operations account for 9 % of all human-made greenhouse-gas emissions. In addition, it produces the fuels that create another 33 % of global emissions.

The O&G sector will play an important role in the global energy transition; how it will face that future is a matter of strategy. As transparency increases, so may expectations. Customers, employees, and investors are already starting to distinguish the leaders from the laggards. O&G companies that will developpe this side could find themselves better positioned for change. Advancement in technologies, the falling cost of digitalization, and the ever-widening connectivity of devices provide a real competition-beating opportunity to upstream O&G companies who play the digital revolution right. The lower-for-longer downturn and moderating operational gains have provided an extra incentive—or turned the opportunity into a need—for companies to save millions from their operating costs and, most importantly, make their $3.4 trillion asset base smarter and more efficient.