BP’s new CEO Bernard Looney recently announces a new ambition for the company: to become a net zero company by 2050 or sooner.

BP’s new ambition to be a net zero company by 2050 or sooner covers the greenhouse gas emissions from its operations worldwide, currently around 55 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (MteCO2e) a year, and the carbon in the oil and gas that it produces, equivalent currently to around 360 MteCO2e emissions a year – both on an absolute basis. Taken together, delivery of these aims would equate to a reduction in emissions to net zero from what is currently around 415 MteCO2e a year.  

BP also aims to install methane measurement at all of its existing major oil and gas processing sites by 2023 and then reduce the methane intensity of its operations by 50%.  Moreover, BP aims to help its customers reduce their emissions by halving the carbon intensity of the products it sells, again by 2050 or sooner – offering customers more and better choices of low- and no-carbon products.

Looney said: “This is what we mean by making BP net zero. It directly addresses all the carbon we get out of the ground as well as all the greenhouse gases we emit from our operations. These will be absolute reductions, which is what the world needs. If this were to happen to every barrel of oil and gas produced, the emissions problem for our sector would be solved. But of course, the world is not that simple; the whole energy system has to be transformed and everyone has a contribution to make – producers and sellers of energy, policy makers and everyone who uses energy.” 

And over time BP also aims to increase the proportion of investment it makes into non-oil and gas businesses.

“We expect to invest more in low carbon businesses and less in oil and gas over time. The goal is to invest wisely, into businesses where we can add value, develop at scale, and deliver competitive returns.”