BP’s Bold Climate Plan Doesn’t Mean Net Zero: Green Insight

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After months of planning, BP’s new CEO Bernard Looney made his big green pitch: Europe’s second-largest oil company will cut its emissions to net zero by 2050, he said earlier this month. Many thought that made BP the world’s first supermajor to take responsibility for all its emissions.

It did not do that.

Every company has three types of emissions. BP’s so-called Scope 1 emissions are those directly produced by the company, such as natural gas used to heat BP buildings. “Scope 2” emissions are created by another entity, for example ...