BP is going carbon neutral - not just yet
When big wigs like BP start to seriously talk about CO2 offsetting then it definitely looks like the momentum behind carbon offsets is sustainable. Companies like Terrapass in the US and Climate Care in the UK have been pushing carbon offsetting for wee while now.
BP has just announced (see this Guardian article) that they will be encouraging UK motorists to neutralise carbon emissions from their vehicles. The plan is that BP will match payments made by customers that seek to offset their emissions, investing the funds in low or zero car bon emission projects. This seems like a great idea but are consumers likely to bite? Or is this likely to be more of a PR exercise? Only time will tell.
Just one more thought though. How much would it cost BP to offset CO2 emissions from the products that it produces today?
A recent BP report stated that the carbon dioxide produced by its products was 606 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2004 ( this excludes carbon dioxide produced from oil and gas that the company buys and sells) – see this interesting article about these numbers.
Using today’s CO2 spot prices in Europe, a tonne of CO2 cost 16.6 Euros (around $21.23).
How much would BP have to spend to offset the CO2 from its products? My calculations come up with $12.9 Billion! Now, how does that compare with the record profits generated by the company in 2005?
The company reported $16.2 billion in profits in 2005. How would the company’s shareholders feel about channeling 80% of its profits into zero or low carbon projects? Hmmmmm.
In a sense BP is right, we all have to do our bit.
Interesting thoughts here:
