Natural Gas ESG and Sustainability
In response to growing interest in the role of natural gas in a sustainable energy future, the American Gas Association (AGA) partnered with Edison Electric Institute (EEI) to develop a voluntary reporting template with the goal of helping electric and gas companies provide the financial sector and the public with more uniform and consistent environmental, social, governance (ESG) and sustainability data and information.
In order to develop investor-driven ESG/sustainability reporting practices and incorporate them into the template, AGA and EEI assembled a broad working group comprised of finance sector specialists in asset management, ESG/sustainability, and investment banking; buy-side and sell-side analysts; and industry representatives from various disciplines, including accounting, environment, ESG/sustainability, finance, treasury, investor relations, and legal.
The AGA/EEI ESG/Sustainability Template includes both qualitative and quantitative reporting guidance. The gas and electric companies using the template will publish their data by the third quarter of each year. AGA and EEI member companies typically will post the information on the investor relations or sustainability sections of their websites. See below for links to AGA member company websites where their template materials are posted.
Version 1 of the ESG/Sustainability Template was released in August 2018, and updated in November 2018 to incorporate natural gas metrics into the reporting framework. Version 2, which was released in August 2019, integrated AGA’s quantitative metrics for natural gas distribution companies and qualitative reporting elements for cybersecurity governance and natural gas sustainability.
In May 2021, AGA and EEI released the updated Version 3 ESG/Sustainability Template. In the quantitative section, the “AGA Metrics” tab adds human resources metrics for board and workforce diversity. As in Version 2, the AGA methane intensity metric in Version 3 is based only on emissions and sources reported to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, 40 C.F.R. Part 98, Subpart W (including emissions reported under Subpart C as directed by Subpart W). However, the ESG/Sustainability Template encourages participants to report their methane intensity using the more comprehensive Natural Gas Sustainability Initiative (NGSI) Methane Emissions Intensity Protocol and to provide a link to their posted NGSI reporting template within their ESG/Sustainability qualitative narrative section.
AGA and EEI released the NGSI Protocol, Version 1.0 in February 2021 and an updated Version 2.0 in September 2024. The NGSI Protocol is used for calculating methane emissions intensity for a company’s operations across each segment of the natural gas value chain. For further information about NGSI, see AGA’s Natural Gas Sustainability Initiative page.
EEI and AGA ESG/Sustainability Template – Version 3 (2021)
- Qualitative Section: View the introduction and qualitative section.
- Quantitative Section: View the quantitative metrics and definitions.
EEI and AGA ESG/Sustainability Template – Version 2 (2019)
- Qualitative Section: View the introduction and qualitative section.
- Quantitative Section: View the quantitative metrics and definitions.
Additional Resources
AGA Contacts
Adam Kay
Manager, Public Relations
akay@aga.org, 202-824-7263
Jennifer Golinsky Baseman
Associate Counsel, Environment
jbaseman@aga.org, 202-824-7340
Tim Parr
Deputy General Counsel
tparr@aga.org, 202-824-7072
Edith Naegele
VP, Membership and Strategic Development
enaegele@aga.org, 202-824-7087
EEI-AGA Version 3 ESG Template – Participating Companies:
EEI-AGA Version 2 ESG Template, including Gas Metrics – Participating Companies:
** Slightly Different Format
AGA ESG Gas Metrics (earlier Oct. 2018 Version) – Participating Companies:
*Now Using Version 2. See link above.