Sustainability and Petroleum Extraction: Corporate and Community Perspectives in Northern Norway and the Russian Arctic

Many players involved in petroleum extraction focus on the importance of social and environmental sustainability. Yet a common understanding of what sustainability means does not exist amongst corporations, local community sectors, NGOs, and academics.

This project aims to identify and reconcile differences in perceptions and practices of sustainability in Northern Norway and Arctic Russia, providing a baseline for cross-border dialogue and collaboration amongst players related to petroleum extraction. New knowledge is generated through analyzing original case studies in Norway and Russia.

The hypothesis is: When petroleum companies and local peoples/governments negotiate benefit-sharing agreements for petroleum extraction, these parties agree on outcomes that may exclude aspects of social and environmental sustainability often promoted by academics and NGOs. Testing the hypothesis contributes to indicating how Norway may improve its own practices and how current practices might be applied to sustainability and resource-related collaboration with Russia.

Data come from quantitative local value creation analyses and qualitative interviews, examining the views, interests, and economic realities of corporations, academics, NGOs, and four different community sectors: indigenous peoples, non-indigenous peoples, local government, and local businesses.