Mutiny aboard BP to cut climate targets. It is reported that some of the UK’s largest pension funds, which are in the shareholding, will vote against the re-election of oil company chief Helge Lund. BBC News Thursday.
The energy giant has corrected its intentions to emit more carbon by the end of the decade than it committed to.
Before the company’s annual meeting, BP’s five shareholder pension plans cited a “failure of governance.” BP responded that it appreciated the “constructive challenge and commitment” the funds posed.
Shareholders agreed to an original emissions reduction target of 2022. This included a promise to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 35 to 40 percent by the end of this decade.
“Not only are we disappointed that the company backtracked on climate targets, we are also disappointed that we were not consulted.”
Katharina Lindmeier
However, BP announced in February that it aims to cut by a maximum of 30 percent to extend the life of existing fossil fuel projects.
CEO Bernard Looney argued that the new plans were a response to growing concerns about energy security in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The five pension funds confirmed to the British public channel that they voted against Lund. It is their way of protesting the company’s decisions.
Pension funds have 496 million euros invested in BP, which is less than 1 percent of the total. But they manage the pensions of more than a third of UK workers, so they are an influential voice.
“Not only were we disappointed to see the company backtrack on targets, but also surprised that we were not consulted,” explains Katharina Lindmeier, senior director of responsible investment at Nest, the government-backed pension fund.
The five funds — Nest, Universities Pension Scheme, LGPS Central, Brunel Pension Partnership and Border to Coast — are concerned that the new targets will put BP at financial risk, as the company’s fossil fuel projects are likely to lose value. Towards net zero emissions.
BP, gas, and the association with cancer
Nest also made it clear that they were concerned about BP’s decisions on gas flaring, after watching the documentary. Under a poisoned sky.
A BBC News investigation showed that BP was one of the major oil companies that did not report gas emissions from flaring gas in Iraq’s oil fields.
Ali Hussein Jalloud, who documented his life in Iraq for the documentary, suspects that his childhood leukemia was caused by gas ignition. He passed away on April 21 after his cancer developed.
BP argued that it was “very concerned about the issues raised” in the documentary and is working to address them.
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