BP has ambitious plans to move beyond fossil fuels – but are they enough?

(The Guardian, 10 Feb 2022) The oil giant revealed its four-fold increase in profits alongside pledges on investment in cleaner energy.

When BP revealed this week that bumper profits had reached an eight-year high, helped by the same soaring gas prices that have fuelled a national cost of living crisis, it had a political sweetener already prepared.

The oil firm revealed the four-fold profit increase to $12.8bn alongside a promise to spend more on low-carbon energy alternatives, and invest more than £2 for every £1 it made in Britain this decade.

Bernard Looney, BP’s chief executive, told investors that by 2025 the company plans to dedicate 40% of its spending budget to parts of the business which aid the energy transition, rising to 50% of the budget by the end of the decade.

A large proportion would be earmarked for UK projects such as giant offshore windfarms, hydrogen projects and electric vehicle charging networks. A useful counter-argument to calls for a windfall tax? Not so, Looney told the Guardian.

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The Guardian, 10 Feb 2022: BP has ambitious plans to move beyond fossil fuels – but are they enough?