Remember the time when BP wanted to be known as ‘Beyond Petroleum’ and it being proud of their renewable energy investment? After reading this latest press article about the first quarter results of BP there is no doubt at all anymore. BP is not intending to loose its old ways of heavily investing in oil fields across the globe. Quite the opposite really. Renewable energy investment seems to be out of fashion at BP.
Harsh words? Here are two key facts from the article:
  • New investments in oil fields in Azerbaijan, Gulf of Mexico, Brazil and Norway nearly worth $9 BILLION.
  • $900 million for a 75 percent stake in the oil sands assets of unlisted Canadian company Value Creation.
So what does that tell us? What conclusions can be drawn from these first-quarter results?

bp logo The renewable energy investment business model: Out of fashion at BP?

  • It seems that BP is not really interesting in renewable energy anymore. BP Alternative Energy is something really progressive and useful but it seems that the importance of this business is not very high within BP. In light of these new investment figures for oil fields and comparing them to the $20 million BP US investment into solar for example  this becomes absolutely clear.
  • Sustainability at BP is on the back-burner until the really important business (the oil business) is back on track. This is not good news for the Sustainability professional at BP.
  • We need to ask the sustainability people and people working in similar fields at BP tougher questions what has has happened to their self proclaimed “Diverse Energy Mix”  They need to communicate much better what the intention of BP is. Otherwise everyone (like I have been) is being left clueless about the path BP is going along at the moment with alternative energy.
Conclusion
BP is just one of many energy companies heavily investing in oil sources do not get me wrong. But what I am missing here is a commitment from BP to change their business practice and to move towards a sustainable energy future. Currently I see quite the opposite. A move away from sustainable energy towards the old oil business model……..Not a good development in my opinion.

A straight forward question for everyone at BP
Your business can not stay the same for the next X number of years with the finite energy resources we have in our world today and the not so distant future. Where is the future perspective for your business? I can definitely not see it!