BP ditches support for climate bill

We called for strong climate action from the US. But support for the proposed climate bill is being undermined by BP.

It's not perhaps the most surprising of news, but it is worth noting. BP USA has quit a leading business coalition that's been lobbying for a climate bill to cut carbon emissions in the states.

You can be sure that what goes on in the States will have been approved from the London office, where over the past few years BP have been working hard to create the impression of a company that has moved away from fossil fuels. So does this move mark an admission of oily business-as-usual from the company that claims it is "beyond petroleum"?

BP's statement argues they're dropping out because they believe they "could be more effective [at securing low-carbon legislation, presumably] acting alone," and because the legislation doesn't do enough to encourage relatively-low emissions natural gas over more polluting fossil fuels like coal.

But those are pretty mystifying arguments. First up, the climate bill covers a whole lot more than adjudicating between different fuels, and withdrawing support is a pretty blunt move. Secondly, it seems unlikely that BP will be unilaterally pushing for emissions cuts at the same time as investing in tar sands, an oil source that produces at least three times more emissions than regular oil.

More likely, they're just chasing the dollar signs and concentrating on lobbying for legislation that benefits their commercial operations directly, rather than wider measures to cut emissions.

Interestingly, we seem to be seeing a bit of an about-face in public relations strategy from the company.

Over the past decade they've morphed from British Petroleum to just BP, adopted a green flower as a logo, and massively publicised a relatively tiny renewable power division (which led to my favourite Onion article of all time - "We're investing so much in alternative fuels, sometimes we almost forget to pump oil!").

But maybe they're just giving up on trying to green-tint their business. Certainly, by pulling out of supporting the US climate bill, while chatting up as many Canadian tar sands operators as they can get their hands on, they're sending a pretty clear signal that in 2010 'beyond petroleum' doesn't carry much weight.