Greenpeace volunteers have today shut down BP’s HQ. The organisation is demanding that BP immediately ends all exploration for new oil and gas and switches to investing only in renewable energy. If BP does not do that, says Greenpeace, it should wind down its operations entirely and go out of business.
Greenpeace volunteers arrived at the HQ in St James’ Square, central London, at 3am this morning. They have encased themselves in specially designed, toughened containers weighing several tonnes each, blockading all the HQ’s main entrances and preventing staff from entering the building. A team of climbers are now abseiling from the top of the company’s HQ and blocking out each window with huge letters spelling out the words ‘CLIMATE EMERGENCY’ across the entire facade of the building.
The containers display photos from photographer Gideon Mendel’s Drowning World project which explores the impacts of the climate emergency on people from around the world.
The shutdown comes on the eve of BP’s AGM. The volunteers have established a climate emergency camp on the site, with enough food and water to keep the HQ closed for at least the whole of this AGM week.