BP has scaled back its green energy plans β donβt be surprised if it happens again | Nils Pratley
The oil majorβs net zero plans have made it a sector leader but have yet to win over investors while fossil fuels are booming
Grand corporate strategies are launched in weighty declarations by chief executives who fancy themselves as visionaries. That was how Bernard Looney, the then chief executive of BP, did it back in February 2020 when he said the company would get serious about cutting greenhouse gas emissions and investing in renewables. βThe direction is set. We are heading to net zero. There is no turning back,β Looney told his City audience.
By contrast, the watering down of ambition tends to happen in increments. Thus, when Looney last year scrapped BPβs aim to reduce hydrocarbon output by 40% by 2030, versus 2019βs level, in favour of a 25% cut, he claimed the change was a case of βleaning inβ to the same strategy, just in the new circumstance of a world that was worrying more about energy security after Russiaβs invasion of Ukraine.
Continue reading...Β© Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA
Β© Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA