Deeper Drilling compares projects on 17 environmental indicators in five categories: general environmental management, land, air, emissions, water and climate change. The highest scoring site had a grade of 60% and the lowest 25%. The 44% average indicates that Canada's regulatory standards for in-situ oil sands extraction are set too low and need improvement.

Recommendations for improvement include: implementing industry best practices, evaluating cumulative impacts, setting reduction targets for greenhouse gas emissions and water use, and investing in biodiversity offsets to compensate for terrestrial lands used.