Thursday, February 27, 2025
Has the world given up trying to tackle climate change?
The paper says that the FTSE 100 fossil fuel company has promised shareholders it will increase its target for oil and gas production by 2030 to the equivalent of about 2.4m barrels a day – about 60% higher than the figure in its net zero plan set out five years ago:
The move back towards fossil fuels represents a stark shift from the investment plan put forward five years ago by the former chief executive Bernard Looney. He had promised to shrink the company’s fossil fuel production to about 1.5m barrels a day and make BP a net zero energy company by 2050.
Auchincloss said BP would instead focus on strengthening its production portfolio by starting up 10 large-scale oil and gas projects by 2027 and a further eight to 10 projects by the end of the decade.
The strategy reset has come amid growing pressure from investors to shrug off its green pledges, which initially won praise from green groups but have since been diluted as BP’s share price has suffered.
BP has lost almost a quarter of its market value in the past two years while the market value of its rivals Shell and ExxonMobil has increased as they pursue greater oil and gas production.
This is clearly a disturbing trend but it is in no way out of kilter with the way the world now appears to be moving. Look at the evidence:
There is of course the polluter-in-chief, Donald Trump who, in his first few weeks in power has issued a flurry of executive orders reversing the Biden administration’s policies on climate change and scientific integrity, directing federal agencies to fast-track energy permitting.
This malaise has spread to the UK with the government handing major oil companies the right to drill for fossil fuels in twenty four new licence areas across the North Sea as part of their mission to extend the life of the ageing oil and gas basin. And of course there is the intention of Chancellor Rachel Reeves to promote the building of a third runway at Heathrow.
The impression being given by all these actions and many more is that the world has given up on tackling climate change. Perhaps it was just too difficult, or maybe key decision makers have decided that the battle is lost so they may as well pretend it isnt a problem.
The real explanation though has a more cynical root. It is money. The future is being sacrificed for monetary greed and economic imperatives and there is nothing we can do to stop it.
