Engaging Stakeholders
Our mission is to become the operator of choice for all of our stakeholders. By stakeholders, we mean those most interested in, and affected by, our operations — employees, contractors, service providers, landowners, local communities, emergency service professionals, elected officials, regulators, investors, and capital providers, among others.
Stakeholders provide us with valuable feedback from a variety of perspectives. We monitor stakeholder interests specific to us and to the broader natural gas industry and we actively engage with stakeholders as part of our effort to continuously improve.
We believe in maintaining an open and honest dialogue with our stakeholders and in providing numerous avenues for our stakeholders to actively engage with us. Based on our experience and ongoing communications with stakeholders, we have developed specific methods of response designed to meet our stakeholders’ diverse expectations and engagement preferences.
Many of our stakeholders share similar, broad-based concerns about the natural gas industry overall; however, select individual groups may have specific concerns. Our integrated engagement strategies for each stakeholder group are outlined below, with corresponding information about each group’s key concerns. We provide links to our management approach and performance for each topic covered in this report.
For the purposes of this report, we define our workers as follows:
- Employees — full-time and part-time employees of EQT;
- Contract Workers — temporary workers assigned to fill a role or complete a specific project; and
- Service Providers — third-party or outsourced providers hired to perform specialized services for EQT.
Stakeholder |
Engagement Approaches |
Key Topics and Concerns |
Employees |
Ongoing:
|
|
Service Providers |
Ongoing:
|
|
Landowners / Royalty Owners / Joint Interest Owners |
24/7 communication:
As needed or requested:
|
|
Local Communities |
24/7 communication:
As needed or requested:
Ongoing:
|
|
Emergency Service Professionals |
As needed or requested:
|
|
Elected Officials / Regulators |
Ongoing:
As needed or requested:
|
|
Investors / Capital Providers |
Ongoing:
At least once each quarter:
Annually:
|
|
Industry / Trade Associations |
Ongoing:
|
|
Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) / Charities |
As needed or requested:
|
|
News Media / Industry Analysts |
As needed or requested:
|
|
Strategic Materiality Assessment
In 2020, we undertook a strategic materiality assessment to analyze the environmental, social, and governance topics most important to our operations, internal and external stakeholders, and corporate strategy. Coordinated by Environmental Resources Management International Group Limited — a leading sustainability consulting firm, this comprehensive process followed the Global Reporting Initiative’s materiality process of Identification, Prioritization, and Validation. You can read more about the full process in our 2019 ESG Report.
Material Topics
We proudly cover our material topics in this report and we use the findings to inform our organizational strategy and management approaches. We did not use the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s concept of materiality within the context of this report. The interactive infographic below displays the results of our 2020 materiality assessment.



- Permitting
- Completions turbines
- Compressor stations
- Sites
- Drilling sites
- Water hauling (contractors)
- Landowners
- Local communities
- Appalachian Basin flora and fauna
- Local, state and federal governments
- Site design
- Development
- Operations
- Decommissioning
- Landowners
- Local communities
- Appalachian Basin flora and fauna
- Local, state and federal governments
- Drilling
- Completions
- Production
- Gas field service
- Transportation
- Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS)
- Midstream
- End users
- Environment
- Local communities
- Global populations
- Local, state and federal governments
- Emissions trading markets
- Drilling
- Completions
- Water hauling (contractors)
- Local communities
- Appalachian Basin flora and fauna
- Drilling
- Completions
- Production
- EHS
- Appalachian Basin watersheds (Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio)
- Landowners
- Local communities
- Commercial disposal facilities (Ohio)
- Local, state and federal governments
- Site design and construction
- Marcellus and Utica operations
- Decommissioning
- EQT Foundation
- Water hauling (contractors)
- Landowners
- Local communities
- Local, state and federal governments
- State and local first responders
- Law enforcement
- Suppliers
- NGOs/charities
- Owner Relations team
- Landowners
- Local communities
- All employees (especially field operations)
- Contractors
- All employees
- Local labor markets
- All employees
- Business partners
- Local, state and federal governments
- Executive team
- Public Relations team
- Public Policy and Corporate Responsibility Committee
- Local, state and federal officials
- Industry/trade associations
- Landowners
- Local communities
- U.S. residents
- Operations
- Natural gas users (industrial, commercial, residential)
- Investors
- Domestic and international economies
- All employees
- Appalachian Basin flora and fauna
- Local communities
- Contractors
Environmental
Air Quality
- Permitting
- Completions turbines
- Compressor stations
- Sites
- Drilling sites
- Water hauling (contractors)
- Landowners
- Local communities
- Appalachian Basin flora and fauna
- Local, state and federal governments
Biodiversity and Land Impacts
- Site design
- Development
- Operations
- Decommissioning
- Landowners
- Local communities
- Appalachian Basin flora and fauna
- Local, state and federal governments
Climate and GHG Emissions
- Drilling
- Completions
- Production
- Gas field service
- Transportation
- Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS)
- Midstream
- End users
- Environment
- Local communities
- Global populations
- Local, state and federal governments
- Emissions trading markets
Spills
- Drilling
- Completions
- Water hauling (contractors)
- Local communities
- Appalachian Basin flora and fauna
Water
- Drilling
- Completions
- Production
- EHS
- Appalachian Basin watersheds (Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio)
- Landowners
- Local communities
- Commercial disposal facilities (Ohio)
- Local, state and federal governments
Social
Community Impacts and Safety
- Site design and construction
- Marcellus and Utica operations
- Decommissioning
- EQT Foundation
- Water hauling (contractors)
- Landowners
- Local communities
- Local, state and federal governments
- State and local first responders
- Law enforcement
- Suppliers
- NGOs/charities
Landowner Relations
- Owner Relations team
- Landowners
- Local communities
Occupational Health and Safety
- All employees (especially field operations)
- Contractors
Talent Attraction and Retention
- All employees
- Local labor markets
Governance
Ethics and Integrity
- All employees
- Business partners
- Local, state and federal governments
Public Policy and Perception
- Executive team
- Public Relations team
- Public Policy and Corporate Responsibility Committee
- Local, state and federal officials
- Industry/trade associations
- Landowners
- Local communities
- U.S. residents
Sustainable Value Creation
- Operations
- Natural gas users (industrial, commercial, residential)
- Investors
- Domestic and international economies
Technological Evolution
- All employees
- Appalachian Basin flora and fauna
- Local communities
- Contractors
[1] “Impact Boundary” refers to potential items that may be impacted by a material topic and our involvement in such impacts.