It is well established in both public consciousness and global diplomacy that our current energy model is unsuitable for continued long term use due to the negative environmental and climatic impacts. However, fossil fuels have been strongly integrated into almost all aspects of life since the industrial revolution, making it a slow and difficult process to transition away from. There is already pre-existing and well-funded infrastructure ready for use, however, the transition to a sustainable energy system is capital-intensive with high upfront costs. And yet a surprising source of investment into this is growing in prevalence – the fossil fuel companies themselves.
One example of this is BP, a British multinational oil and gas company classified as one of the “supermajors” in the big oil sector. They work with many different energy sources, with oil remaining their largest focus, producing 1.11 million barrels per day in 2023. Since they were first established in 1909, they have amassed significant financial resources and expertise. Over the past two decades, billions of dollars’ worth has reportedly been invested by BP in renewable energy and a green economy. This has been done mainly through partnerships and acquisitions, in keeping with their company policies which aim to “dramatically reduce carbon in our operations and in our production, and grow new net low carbon businesses, products and services.” This approach has led to BP being partially welcomed by green advocacy groups, although not without controversy. When in early 2024 they announced a scaling back of their renewable energy ambitions (likely due to their rival Shell doing similar revisions to their renewable targets and seeing a jump in share price). Many claimed this to have a “certain level of inevitability about it”. The shift in targets has moved from lowering emissions by 35-40% by the end of the decade, to instead aiming for a 20-30% reduction when compared to a 2019 baseline.
As can be seen from changing sustainability targets, these policies cannot all be set by the companies themselves without outside accountability. This comes from the companies and organisations such as BP and other fossil fuel supermajors have partnered with, which truly do have green practices at the core of everything they do. One such example of how this partnership can be managed is the clean planet group, an organisation which focuses on a joint approach of building new technologies and infrastructure alongside providing education and outreach programmes – in doing so, winning the Lloyds Bank Sustainable Business of the Year 2023. The current mission of the group is to each year remove 1 million tonnes of hard-to-recycle plastic typically rejected by traditional recycling centres from the environment. Waste plastic is processed into naphtha, a petrochemical feedstock that can be used to create a more circular plastic production supply chain. In 2022 they signed a ten-year offtake agreement with BP, where they will receive the output of Clean Planet Energy’s first ‘ecoPlant’ recycling facility. While a more “black-and-white” worldview may say a company so focused on green practices would not be a compatible choice for working with such a major power in the fossil fuel industry, in reality, this type of partnership is not atypical, and is an efficient way of making progress. Clean Planet Energy have a means of making the plastic production chain more circular – a necessity to reduce waste at a time where it is unfeasible to stop plastic production altogether. They are working with BP’s leading refining and trading businesses to give this product a far wider reach and impact. By making such a major company switch some of their supply to a source known to be circular and low carbon, it can significantly lessen the pollution caused at one major step in the process. Additionally, within this contract it could be ensured that BP put sustainability at the forefront of their discussions while also having an outside source of accountability to ensure this was adhered to.
The fossil fuel industry has done extreme amounts of damage over the years, becoming one of the main targets pointed at to be rid of in a bid to move towards a greener, more sustainable future. Despite this, they are still currently the ones with the expertise and financial backing to cause the major shifts that are needed. With the urgency of the transition to cutting emissions and reducing waste, there is no time to wait to find a more ideal source than this. For now, the quickest way of bringing about change is to follow in the example set by Clean Planet Energy, working alongside these established companies and ensuring that at every step of the way as much is done as is possible to remain true to sustainable values, bringing us closer to a green future for our planet.