A coalition of environmentalists and investors from Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, have combined to challenge BP Amoco's oil expansion plans in the Arctic and the company's lack of action on climate change.
Shareholders voted at BP Amoco's Annual General Meeting in April on the resolution initiated by Greenpeace with partners Trillium Asset Management Corporation and the US Public Interest Research Group. The resolution called on the company to abandon its Northstar project, the first offshore oil production facility in the Arctic Ocean, and to end attempts to open the US Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil drilling. It also called for the funds from Northstar's cancellation to be redirected to BP Amoco's solar subsidiary company, BP Solarex.
"The battle to save the Arctic from oil exploration and climate change is heading to the boadroom. This resolution is intended to send a strong signal to the BP Board that they must make a fundamental shift in their investment strategy if they are to successfully manage the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy," said Greenpeace spokesperson Matthew Spencer. Currently BP's investment in renewable energy equals about three days of it annual oil and gas spending.
The resolution is supported by investment companies and environment groups including: the WWF, the Wilderness Society (US), the Gwich'in Steering Committee, Caribou Commons, the Alaska Wilderness League and the Sierra Club. A number of the groups will be demonstrating outside the BP Amoco meeting.
"The appearance of this resolution on the BP Amoco AGM agenda represents a major victory for shareholders concerned about BP Amoco's environmental performance," said Simon Billenness of the Boston-based Trillium Asset Management Corporation, an ethical investment fund. "US-styled shareholder activism has arrived in Europe."
The influential Pension and Investment Research Consultants (PIRC) has recommended in a report to its clients, which include some of the largest funds in the UK, to support the Greenpeace resolution. The Derbyshire County Council Pension Fund and South Yorkshire Pension Fund have announced they will support the resolution while Birmingham City Council Fund has said it will show its disapproval of BP by abstaining from a vote on the motion.
"BP Amoco is currently behind a major push in the US to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and we urge BP Amoco shareholders to protect the Arctic by voting for this resoluton," said Athan Manuel of the US Public Interest Research Group (PIRG).
The Wilderness Society director of Refuges and wildlife, Jim Waltman said:"The Wilderness Society is outraged that a British-owned company is so out of touch with American opinion on this issue. Numerous surveys show Americans want permanent protection for Alaska's Arctic Refuge. How would the British public feel if a US company was lobbying for the right to strip coal mine the UK Lake district?"
The Refuge is one of the last pristine areas left in the United States. Caribou, muskoxen, wolves, polar, brown and black bears, and hundreds of migratory birds rely on the wilderness habitat the refuge provides. the Gwich'in, which means "people of the caribou" haved lived in and around the refuge for thousands of years. Their subsistence culture depends on the caribou herd.
"We're travelled half around the globe to deliver our message direct to the BP Amoco shareholders because the company has never asked the Gwich'in people, who have lived on this land for more than 20,000 years, whether we want oil development. Perhaps because we would say no." said Norma Kassi of the International Gwich'in steering committee.
The US Department of the Interior has concluded that oil development in the coastal plain of the Arctic, which includes the ANWR would have major adverse impacts on the vast herd of caribou that migrate there each spring to give birth. The coastal plain is also the most important denning area for the entire South Beaufort Sea polar bear population and serves as a crucial habitat for musk oxen and at least 180 bird species. The Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service also predicts that 10 oil spills, each in excess of 1000 barrels, will occur in the Arctic Ocean if offshore development such as Northstar proceeds.
