At the beginning of August this year, oil giant BP announced its new strategy to move from oil to energy. Standing currently as the 8th largest company in the world by revenue, this is massive news for our planet (and some rare good news for 2020)!
BP's plan outlines some dramatic changes, targeting a 40% drop in fossil output (oil) by 2030 and increasing investment in low carbon to around $5 billion a year to move to renewable energy. The plan converts BP from an international oil company to an integrated energy company, reducing oil, gas and refining. It focuses on: low carbon electricity and energy; convenience and mobility; and resilient and focused hydrocarbons.
Sounds great!
I've had an interesting and personal relationship with this company over the years. Being big into environmental and climate change issues, I wrote an article for my sixth form newspaper a few years back on BP's controversial 2010 oil spill and the harmful effects the company has had on the environment.
One little issue with that: my dad works for BP!
I was honest with him about the article, and he even offered to read it through before publication but I vowed to keep it unbiased. He did, however, read it afterwards - begrudgingly(!) I adore my dad, he works so hard and we have a very close relationship, but this was a difficult position for us both to be stuck in! I couldn't ignore my passion for the environment, so I sent off the article to be published and it got some great feedback.
Fast-forward a few years to August 2020, and I received an interesting email from my dad. He forwarded to me CEO Bernard Looney's details outlining the plans for BP's switch to energy. I was over the moon!
Then it got more interesting. My dad had posted a comment on the BP social media page detailing the anecdote about my article. He sent me a text telling me 'you've got 44 likes on the page!'.
He proceeded to tell me how positive the reactions to the comment had been amongst BP employees ... and that the CEO of BP himself had answered.
It is awesome, Bernard.
I'm glad I stuck with what I believed in. Our world is turning green again 🌱