(Bloomberg) — BP Plc’s pledge to zero out all its carbon emissions by 2050 deepens the divide between major European and American oil producers on climate change, increasing the pressure for Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. to do more.
The U.S. supermajors have only committed to reducing greenhouse gases from their own operations, which typically account for just 10% of fossil fuel pollution. BP on Wednesday followed Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Equinor ASA in pledging to offset emissions from the fuels they sell to customers, representing about 90% of the total.
“If we do see capital flowing into BP, that may force the U.S. majors to rethink the speed at which they move on carbon reduction targets,” said Noah Barrett, a Denver-based energy analyst at Janus Henderson, which manages $356 billion. Still, he doesn’t see “Chevron or Exxon adopting a BP-like strategy in the near future” as they “have historically been less aggressive in their shift away from traditional oil and gas.”
Concerns about global warming are increasingly reshaping investment policies, with BlackRock Inc. and State Street Corp. becoming the latest high-profile investors to demand companies improve environmental, social and governance metrics, or ESG.
Exxon and Chevron, the West’s number one and three oil producers, say it’s not up to them to offset emissions from cars, factories and other polluters known in the industry as Scope 3. For Exxon, such emissions are the “result of choices consumers make.” Chevron says “well-designed policies and carbon pricing mechanisms” are needed.
But BP’s announcement “could be a real tipping point where the norm becomes taking responsibility” for customer emissions, said Kathy Mulvey, a campaign director at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “For a company to continue to stick…
Source: FuelFix
