As BP today announced fourth quarter profits of $4.1 billion - and a net profit for 2000 of over $14.2 billion - Greenpeace demanded that the company immediately increase its "miserly" investment in renewable energy.
Stephanie Tunmore, Climate Campaigner at Greenpeace, said "These obscene profits are being generated at the expense of the world's climate. We will all eventually pay the price as more frequent floods, storms and extreme weather events take their toll. This money should be ploughed straight back into expanding renewable energy to mitigate climate change. If BP won't do this of its own volition, then the Government should ensure it happens with stringent taxes.""Instead of allowing BP and other oil companies to walk off with billions of taxpayers' cash from the North Sea, Gordon Brown should take a multibillion pound windfall from their profits and invest it in green fuels - like hydrogen and electric vehicles and the wind, wave and solar energy to power them," said Tunmore.
BP last year claimed to be going 'beyond petroleum' but still intends to spend 50 times more on its oil and gas business than on renewable energy over the next few years.
In April Greenpeace will once again put BP's green claims to the test at the Company's AGM. Investors will vote on a Greenpeace resolution demanding the Company publish its strategy for moving away from fossil fuel production and becoming a sustainable energy company.
"Our resolution this year is backed by £0 million pounds in shares, reflecting increasing concern over BP's current direction. Continued plundering and burning of the world's carbon stores is dangerous and unsustainable. Shareholders see regulation of this damaging industry getting closer and are worried about the future growth and profitability of a company whose changes appear to be only cosmetic."
Further information
Please contact Greenpeace Press Office 020 7865 8255/85
Notes to Editors
- A study by BP Solar (now BP Solarex) showed that an investment of $550 million in a 500 megawatt solar PV factory would reduce costs by 80% and generate an annual global market of at least $100 billion. $550 million is the cost of three and a half weeks' oil exploration by BP.
- Greenpeace has submitted a shareholder resolution to BP's AGM on 19th April. Backed by 176 shareholders holding over 11.5 million shares (worth more than £0 million), the resolution calls on BP's Board to publish a report by the end of 2001, to include quantified targets and clear timescales for switching from oil to renewable energy. The resolution is supported by US socially responsible investor Trillium Asset Management Corporation, US Public Interest Research Group (US PIRG), WWF, the London Boroughs of Hounslow and Islington and Derbyshire County Council pension funds. Three other shareholder resolutions are also expected to be submitted to the BP AGM:
- Last year, 13% of BP investors voted for a Greenpeace resolution which called on the company to cancel its Arctic development, Northstar, and switch investment to a solar factory. The resolution also demanded that the company publicly commit to staying out of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
- In a speech to analysts in July 2000, BP stated that capital expenditure on oil and gas exploration and production would be raised to an average of $8 billion a year for next three years, whilst spending on renewables would be $500 million over the same period.
- A report published in January by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that climate change is caused by human activities, chiefly the burning of fossil fuels. Sir John Houghton, the British scientist who led the 500-member Panel, said that global warming is "inevitable" and "it will affect the world's economy".
- Backgrounder on shareholder activism, copies of the shareholder resolution and supporting statement, and stills and video footage illustrating climate change are all available from the Greenpeace Press Office.
