BP CEO Bernard Looney speaks during an event in London on February 12, 2020, where he declared the … [+]
BP’s new boss Bernard Looney said on February 12 that he wants the oil giant to pivot away from petroleum. By doing so the 111-year-old company could get to net carbon emissions by 2050, predicted Looney.
The company needs to “reinvent” itself, he said in a speech, a week after taking over as chief executive.
“The world’s carbon budget is finite and running out fast; we need a rapid transition to net zero,” said Looney.
“Trillions of dollars will need to be invested in re-plumbing and rewiring the world’s energy system.”
He admits this will be a “challenge,” but also a “tremendous opportunity.”
BP had to change, added Looney.
“And we want to change—this is the right thing for the world and for BP.”
Like an increasing number of other oil company execs, Looney is planning for a future that doesn’t involve the extraction of fossil fuels. However, he wants the transition to cause as little pain to BP shareholders as possible.
“We want a rapid transition,” he said.
“A transition that is delayed, and then suddenly is a right-angle change that disrupts the world, would be destructive to our company.”
He didn’t give a timeline for fully transitioning away from oil, and claimed that BP would “still be an energy company, but a very different kind of energy company: leaner, faster moving, lower carbon, and more valuable.”
Low Carbon Future
Looney said BP’s long-term plans include reducing its investment in oil and gas and investing instead in low carbon businesses. In November 2019, BP invested in mobility specialist MaaS Global. This Finnish startup pioneered a smartphone app that bundles entire cities’ transport services into a single ‘mobility-as-a-service’ (MaaS) platform. The company’s Whim app allows customers to access and pay for city transport options, from taxis, buses, share bicycles, and e-scooters through to ride-hailing services.
BP Ventures invested €10 million in MaaS Global. Roy Williamson, vice president Advanced Mobility at BP, said at the time: “Our collaboration is a great example of BP’s vision for the future of transportation, mobility, and integrated cities.”
Daniela Proske, senior principal, BP Ventures, said the investment “further strengthens our activities in the area of advanced mobility” and that BP wanted to “provide transport options for a low carbon world.”
Decarbonization
In today’s speech Looney did not set out in detail how BP intended to reach its “net zero” target or whether the company would rely on “offsetting” rather than genuine decarbonization.
“We’re starting with a destination,” stated Looney.
“The details will come,” he promised.
BP’s Future In Oil
“BP is going to be in the oil and gas business for a very long time,” admitted Looney.
“We pay an $8 billion in dividends to shareholders every year. Not paying that is one way to make sure that we’re not around to enable the transition that we want.”
BP’s investors include Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change, a pressure group that uses its stakeholdings to urge significant greenhouse gas emitters to decarbonize.
Video of BP’s new CEO Bernard Looney plays on the BP Advanced Mobility booth at the MOVE conference … [+]
A video of Looney has been playing on BP’s booth at the two-day MOVE 2020 conference staged on February 11 and 12 at London’s ExCel conference center.
The company’s Advanced Mobility division claims the “future of transportation mobility is extremely exciting. It’s one where travel time will be shorter, more productive, more predictable, and more environmentally friendly.”
BP has invested in Polar-branded plug-in charging stations for electric vehicles at many of its filling stations, but the transition away from oil may still be some way off. A pre-Looney document from BP suggests that at least half of Europe’s cars and more than two-thirds of the world’s motor vehicles in total could still be powered internal combustion engines in 2040.
