Independent Assessor and Auditor Accreditation Gained with MiQ and Equitable Origin
Environmental Standards, Inc. Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) professionals are leaning into their oil and gas expertise to support our clients’ energy transition objectives. Environmental Standards Inc. has gained accreditation as an independent Equitable Origin (EO) and Methane Intelligence (MiQ) assessment body, helping operators achieve market recognized and certified natural gas.
Equitable Origin created the world´s first stakeholder-led, independent, voluntary standards system for energy development. Equitable Origin partners with business, communities, and government to support transparent, equitable, and sustainable development of energy and natural resources. Through a framework of five principles, the EO100TM Standard represents leading industry practices for site-level ESG performance of energy and energy infrastructure projects.
MiQ is a not-for–profit foundation established by RMI (formerly the Rocky Mountain Institute), and global sustainability consultancy and investment firm SYSTEMIQ. MiQ is pioneering a market-based approach to rapidly reduce methane emissions across the global natural gas sector. MiQ aims to bring transparency to the market, drive demand for certified natural gas, and help operators differentiate themselves through methane-emissions performance.
MiQ has developed and maintains the “MiQ Standard,” a framework that assesses and grades methane intensity, enhanced monitoring technology deployment, and operating practices that promote a culture of emissions management and continuous improvement, aimed to bring about a rapid reduction in methane emissions in the oil and gas sector.
MiQ Certification enables Operators to:
- Credibly demonstrate to stakeholders a company’s methane emissions and process improvements over time.
- Sell certified gas to buyers, with potential for premium pricing versus higher methane-emissions gas.
- Differentiate gas production via MiQ’s graded scale.
- Verify assessment validity as a result of MiQ’s non-conflicted system and independent audit process.
- Access the MiQ Digital Registry, which acts a single source of truth, prevents double-counting, and enables certificates to be traded bundled and unbundled.
- Transport certified gas to new regions and markets, thanks to MiQ’s unique certified Life-Cycle Analysis, which follows gas along the supply chain.
As an option for enhanced certification, Equitable Origin and MiQ offer a joint certification whereby a company can be assessed against both the EO100TM Standard and the MiQ Standard simultaneously. Tradeable joint certificates are issued and held on the MiQ registry.
Six Environmental Standards Inc. professionals, Michael Green, PhD, MBA (MiQ only), John F. Bolakas, MBA, MS, PG, LSRP (EO and MiQ); Shaun M. Gilday, CPEA (EO and MiQ); David A. Gratson, CEAC (EO and MiQ); and Heather E. Tierney, MS (EO and MiQ), along with our assessment body partners Kim Coy (Coy-Balboni, EO and MiQ), Gary Scoggin (Industry Consultant MiQ only) and Mike Teeling (MJT Consulting Geologist LLP, EO and MiQ) have extensive training and are approved as independent auditors and/or assessors. Our team has proven and respected industry expertise performing independent audits, evaluating GHG methane-emissions and calculations, process safety management audits and integrating energy transition metrics including Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) into oil and gas business planning and processes.
Our program auditors and assessors are required to maintain stringent ethical business practices including signed memoranda of understanding attesting to professional judgement, integrity, transparency, and trust. Environmental Standards auditors and assessors are retained directly by our clients to perform these independent audits or assessments.
Contact us or any of our verified Auditors and Assessors for Equitable Origin’s and MiQ’s certification programs. For additional information or to discuss Environmental Standards independent auditing and assessment services please contact Dr. Michael Green or John Bolakas.
