How BP can be a force for good in fight against climate change – Peter Mather

BP doesn’t have all the answers about decarbonisation and can learn from others, but it is changing from an international oil company to an integrated energy company, writes Peter Mather of BP.

Aberdeen City Council and BP have formed a partnership to look for ways to reduce carbon emissions (Picture: Craig Stephen)

In February, BP set out its ambition to become a net zero company by 2050 or sooner, and to help the world get to net zero.

Three months later, Aberdeen City Council agreed its own net-zero vision to deliver environmental and economic benefits to the city – a city which has been home to BP’s North Sea headquarters for more than 50 years.

So, news this month that BP has formed a partnership with the local authority to help the city in its decarbonisation efforts was a natural evolution of our long-established ties with the north-east of Scotland.

But not everyone agreed.

The partnership was likened to asking a car dealer to help design a public transport system. Others were more optimistic, saying we must be careful not to assume companies like BP cannot do the right thing in the drive to net zero. Elsewhere, it was called a step in the right direction. We welcome all these views...

In fact, we believe that honest dialogue, diverse thought and fair challenge will be fundamental to get the world on a more sustainable footing.

It is perfectly fair for people to ask why BP is the right company to partner with cities like Aberdeen. Here’s how we see it.

Cities are critical to the progress of the energy transition.

They are home to half of the world’s population but generate 70 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions.

Research suggests that cities have the potential to achieve 40 per cent of the carbon mitigation goals outlined in the Paris Agreement.

But the challenge is huge, and no single organisation can do it alone. There is a growing acknowledgement that reaching our climate goals will take cooperation between the private and public sector.

We’re seeing that many cities need support to implement change. Their challenges range from having ambitions but needing help with plans, to having plans but needing the capabilities to execute them.

The transition to a lower carbon future is clearly very complex.

It requires long-term financial commitments, in an environment where there is regulatory and technical uncertainty, and integration of existing and emerging technologies.

This is where we believe BP can make a material difference.

We think we have a distinctive role to play in energy and transport decarbonisation and can work with cities to help them develop their plans and provide the capabilities to execute them at scale to benefit people and the planet.

We say this based on our deep technical and broad energy industry expertise, but we freely acknowledge we don’t have all the answers.

We will learn from our partner cities as much as we will help shape their ambitions.

Aberdeen is already positioning itself as a world-leading hydrogen hub in the UK and indeed in north-west Europe.

But of course, it’s a city with a long and proud heritage in oil and gas.

This poses a unique opportunity – and challenge – to transition to a low-carbon economy while helping to support reskilling that will be required for a just energy transition, which seeks to maximise the opportunities of net zero for everyone.

Working in partnership with Aberdeen City Council, we’ll explore opportunities like accelerating the adoption of electric and hydrogen-powered city vehicles, energy efficiency programs for buildings and the circular economy, a system aimed at eliminating waste and the continual use of resources.

Our task is to connect the dots between experts – in the council and across BP and our partners – to create the very best and most sustainable decarbonisation solutions.

Last week, I had the pleasure of giving evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform committee inquiry on green recovery, setting out in more detail BP’s net-zero strategy.

Our strategy will see BP pivot from an international oil company to an integrated energy company, focused on increasing our low-carbon investment ten-fold by 2030 and up to eight-fold by 2025.

It will see us reduce our global hydrocarbon production by 40 per cent by 2030.

We will do this by focusing on core hydrocarbon basins, like the North Sea, to deliver the oil and gas still needed in the energy mix but will not explore for new oil and gas in new countries.

And, of course, our strategy will see us partner with ten to 15 cities in their de-carbonisation efforts.

As I told the parliamentary committee last week, these are exciting times, but we now need to move from excitement to execution to demonstrate our commitment to making these changes.

But we can’t do it alone.

We will need to work with partners, policymakers, civil society, customers, investors and even our critics to truly make a difference.

It’s a challenge we welcome, and we hope to prove the value of our contribution.

Peter Mather is bp senior vice president Europe and head of country UK

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