BP Backs Shareholder Call to Align its Strategy With Paris Climate Goals

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Byย Sara Stefanini, Climate Home News.ย This article originally appeared on Climate Home News.

BP will back a shareholder push for it to begin reporting on howย itsย strategy fits with the Paris Agreementโ€™s goals, the British oil and gas majorย said on Friday.

Theย Climate Action 100+ groupย of more than 300 investors, who hold around $32 trillion in assets, plan to present theย shareholder resolutionย at BPโ€™s annual general meeting in May.

The resolution wouldย require BP to set out a business strategy that it considers, โ€œin good faith,โ€ย to be in line with the Paris goals to limit global temperature rise to well below 2ยฐC, and aim forย 1.5ยฐC.

The company would alsoย have to evaluate whether each new material capital investment is consistent with the climate agreement. And it would have to set out its anticipated levels of investment in oil, gas, and other energy technologies, its goals for reducing operational greenhouse gas emissions, the estimated carbon intensity of its energy products, and how its targets are linked to executiveย pay.

If the resolution is approved at the meeting, it will be up to BP to provide additional corporate reporting for 2019, as well as the process and methodology for thatย reporting.

โ€œBP is committed to helping solve the dual challenge of providing more energy with fewer emissions,โ€ the companyโ€™s chairman Helge Lund said in a statement. โ€œWe believe our strategy is consistent with the Parisย goals.โ€

The company plans to provide a more detailed explanation of its support for the resolution when it publishes a notice of the AGM, itย said.

Investors and environmentalists welcomed BPโ€™s announcement, while stressing they will continue to monitor its climateย performance.

โ€œThis is good news for both investors and the planet,โ€ said Bruce Duguid, head of stewardship at the investment management firm Hermes EOS and the lead coordinator of the resolution. โ€œThe decision by the BP board to support the resolution shows that this is a priority for the company and builds on progress to date, such as setting best in class methane intensityย targets.โ€

The charity ShareActionย addedย that it will keep an eye on BPโ€™s capital expenditure decisions, especially its plans for significant growth in the Gulf of Mexicoโ€™s hydrocarbonย fields.

Oil and gas majors in Europe and the U.S. have gradually bowed to shareholder pressure in recent years to give more information on how climate change affects their business, and set goals for reducing theirย emissions.

Shellย announced in Decemberย that it will set short-term targets to shrink the net carbon footprint from its energy products and link those goals to executive remuneration โ€” also in response to calls from the Climate Action 100+ group. BP introduced a plan last year that sets near-term emissions goals for itsย operations.

Main image:ย BP gas station in 2014. Credit:ย Mike Mozart of JeepersMedia,ย CC BYย 2.0

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