Evaluating financial sustainability in the EAEU oil and gas sector: the role of ESG practices

The oil and gas industry in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) faces growing pressure to enhance financial sustainability while adhering to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) standards. This study aims to evaluate how ESG factors influence the financial sustainability of oil and gas firms in the EAEU. Using panel data from the Orbis and World Bank databases for 2012–2020, we apply the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) methodology to examine the role of firm-specific, market-structure, and macroeconomic variables. We construct two models: one that includes ESG factors and one that omits—to allow comparative analysis. Our results show that ESG factors significantly enhance financial sustainability, with stronger performance observed when ESG elements are integrated. The findings confirm the relevance of the triple bottom line (TBL) paradigm and highlight that ESG integration improves competitiveness, especially in response to external shocks such as COVID-19 and shifts in market structure captured by the Boone indicator. These insights underscore the importance of ESG alignment for long-term sustainability in the energy sector.