Posted by jossc — 22 December 2008 at 5:13pm
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Exciting footage just in from the London HQ of international energy giant BP. After discovering internal company documents which reveal that the company, which has been stying itself 'Beyond Petroleum', is actually still spending 93 per cent of its budget on oil and gas extraction, we sent a crack team of smartly dressed greenwash-busters to locate BP boss Tony Hayward and present him with our coveted Emerald Paintbrush award for this year's most outstandingly brazen piece of greenwash.
Find out how they got on below:
But remember folks, this is just the tip of the greenwash-berg. With so many companies desperate to trumpet their 'green' credentials, even if the reality is very different, there are bound to be many more potential award winners out there. So if you know of, or work for, one of them, be sure and drop us a line so we can consider them for furture Emerald Paintbrush presentations...
Oil giant accused of using advertising to ‘greenwash’ massive new investment in fossil fuels
22 December, 2008
Greenpeace representatives in dinner jackets and bow ties were today ejected
from BP's London headquarters after attempting to present the British oil giant
with the first annual "Emerald Paintbrush" award.
Security guards threw
out the smartly dressed protestors after they staged an impromptu awards
ceremony in the lobby of the building.
Greenpeace plans to award the new
prize each year to any company it deems guilty of hiding its environmental
impact with misleading advertising.
Posted by jossc — 22 December 2008 at 10:23am
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The tension built as the judges deliberated. Then at last the results were were all in and - ta-da! It was time to announce the winner of the first annual Greenpeace 'Emerald Paintbrush' award for greenwashing above and beyond the call of duty. Cue a quick roll on the drums, and step forward into the spotlight - BP!
The energy corporation with an income larger than most of the world's nation states has spent a lot of time and money restyling itself as being 'Beyond Petroleum' in recent years, but a trawl through their accounts quickly reveals just how empty that assertion really is - 'Back to Petroleum', more like it.
This report details the range of existing and emerging risks that BP and Shell face from their expansion of production in the Canadian tar sands. We believe the risks are significant for BP and Shell shareholders, and that investors should question the companies more deeply on their tar sands strategies and call for greater transparency regarding the assessment of the mid to long term viability of these projects.
Posted by jamie — 1 April 2008 at 1:18pm
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BP greener than Greenpeace? Our survey said 'uh-uh'
During my semi-regular trawl through news
stories featuring the word 'Greenpeace' last week, one in particular leapt out:
'BP tops Greenpeace in green brands survey'. But despite the apparent awfulness
of that headline, I don't think it's as bad as it looks.
The survey - conducted by Marketing Week and
YouGov - delved into the minds of professional marketing gurus to find out
which brands they thought were the most eco-friendly. Asked which brand they
thought was greenest, M&S came out tops, with names like Innocent, Ecover
and the Body Shop also in the top ten. Greenpeace came tenth, one
place behind BP but what that headline didn't mention was that BP also garnered
fourth place in the list of brands doing the least for the environment,
alongside many of our other friends of Shell, ExxonMobil, E.on, British Airways
and BAA. So it seems opinions are split as to the oil giant's green
credentials.
BP's full year results
released today, show that the company carries a responsibility for emission of
1.3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2007 [1], but the press
release hides that worse is yet to come. Greenpeace and PLATFORM have discovered
that BP is making a dramatic shift 'back to petroleum'.
Since the appointment of Tony
Hayward as Group Chief Executive, BP has invested heavily in Canadian tar sands
[2] and the company has substantially deprioritised BP Alternative Energy.
BP must take heed of a significant vote at its Annual General Meeting today on a Greenpeace resolution calling for the company to take seriously the threats of climate change on fossil fuel investments and protect its shareholders financial future earnings by investing in renewable energy.
Today's initial proxy vote, displayed at the meeting today, showed 919 million shares, or 7.4 per cent of the vote, in favour of the resolution. Votes of the shareholders attending today's meeting have yet to be counted.
