In February 2020, bp unveiled a new net zero ambition and purpose to “reimagine energy for people and our planet”. CEO Bernard Looney set out 10 aims to get bp to net zero by 2050 or sooner, and to help the world get there. A year later, and coinciding with the publication of bp’s annual Sustainability Report, the company has now set 10 further aims for a more strategic and holistic approach to sustainability – one that integrates energy, environment, human rights, climate, social and economic issues.
Ivanka Mamic, bp’s senior vice president for sustainability explains: “Five of the new aims are to care for the planet and five to improve people’s lives. They have been carefully developed over an eighteen-month period via engagement with internal experts and a wide range of external specialists in their field. “We have worked with trade bodies and other organisations and also consulted with academics, scientists, NGOs and investors. Their input, their support and their challenge has been central to shaping this work. We’re incredibly grateful to everyone who has supported the process.”
Together, the full set of 20 aims form part of a living frame, and include aims to become water positive by 2035, develop just transition plans at priority sites, help more than one million people build sustainable livelihoods and acquire new skills; and enhance biodiversity and mental and physical wellbeing.
“We wanted these aims to be comprehensive and focused on the areas where bp can make a difference,” says Mamic. “We now have concrete targets and aims to track our sustainability performance – greenhouse gas reductions, replenishing more freshwater than we consume, advancing human rights in the places where we operate, just like we have a frame to track our financial performance. We are now on a journey to embed all 20 aims into the DNA of the organization.”
bp has published further details of the new aims in its Sustainability Report. The report also details the progress made against the company’s net zero aims – with direct and indirect emissions from bp’s own operations (scope 1 and 2), down by 16% in 2020. This was in part driven by divestments and the company’s own emission reduction activities including flaring reduction projects in Angola and the US. Estimated end-use emissions (scope 3) from the carbon in bp’s upstream oil and gas production also fell by approximately 9%.
The Sustainability Report also offers progress updates on bp’s strategy to pivot from an international oil company to an integrated energy company. Read more about bp’s investments in offshore wind in the UK and US, hydrogen and carbon capture projects in Europe and its growing Lightsource bp portfolio.
Full details can be found at bp.com/sustainability.
