BP’s green dream collapses: Energy giant returns to oil as activist investors circle

 BP, once a pioneer in the oil and gas industry, now finds itself at a crossroads after its ambitious green energy pivot backfired spectacularly. The company’s decision to embrace renewable energy under former CEO Bernard Looney has left it vulnerable to activist investors, plummeting profits and a potential existential crisis. As BP prepares to announce a dramatic shift back to its fossil fuel roots, the energy giant’s struggles serve as a cautionary tale for the global push toward Net Zero. 

In February 2020, Bernard Looney stood before journalists and executives at London’s Royal Lancaster Hotel, urging them to “reimagine” BP as a champion of green power. Looney pledged to cut oil and gas production by 40% by 2030, replacing lost revenue with investments in wind farms, solar parks and biofuels. “BP has been an international oil company for over a century… Now we are pivoting to become an integrated energy company,” he declared.

The plan was bold, with precise targets: a tenfold increase in renewable energy investment to $5 billion annually, 50 gigawatts of renewable capacity by 2030 and a sharp reduction in refining throughput. But five years later, BP’s green dreams have crumbled. Few of the promised renewable projects have materialized, and those that have—like its 10 U.S. wind farms—are being sold off. BP Lightsource, its solar subsidiary, builds solar farms only to sell them, leaving no long-term income stream...<<<Read More>>>...