BP just came up with a plan for tackling climate change that even Greenpeace is cautiously praising.  As my colleague Steven Mufson reports, the British oil and gas giant on Tuesday stretched a promise to cut its carbon emission over the next decade by scaling back from the oil and gas that built BP’s business.

“This coming decade is critical for the world in the fight against climate change, and to drive the necessary change in global energy systems will require action from everyone,” BP chief executive Bernard Looney said in a statement Tuesday.

The plan will radically reorient the company once named “British Petroleum” away from oil.

The 111-year-old, London-based firm said it will stop oil and gas exploration in new countries, slash oil and gas production by 40 percent and boost capital spending on low-carbon energy tenfold, to $5 billion a year.

All that is being done with an eye toward lowering carbon emissions by about a third this decade. In February, BP said it will try to slash its own greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by the middle of the century.

To fund that transition, investors will have to weather an immediate 50 percent cut in dividends. Still, on Tuesday, investors didn’t appear immediately shaken by the announcement, with shares up 7 percent.

BP just came up with a plan for tackling climate change that even Greenpeace is cautiously praising.

As my colleague Steven Mufson reports, the British oil and gas giant on Tuesday stretched a promise to cut its carbon emission over the next decade by scaling back from the oil and gas that built BP’s business.

Clouds partially cover the moon beyond an illuminated BP logo in Guildford, England. (Jason Alden/Bloomberg)
Clouds partially cover the moon beyond an illuminated BP logo in Guildford, England. (Jason Alden/Bloomberg)

“This coming decade is critical for the world in the fight against climate change, and to drive the necessary change in global energy systems will require action from everyone,” BP chief executive Bernard Looney said in a statement Tuesday.

The plan will radically reorient the company once named “British Petroleum” away from oil.

The 111-year-old, London-based firm said it will stop oil and gas exploration in new countries, slash oil and gas production by 40 percent and boost capital spending on low-carbon energy tenfold, to $5 billion a year.

“The company plans to advise cities on ‘power packages’ with renewables, backup batteries and financing,” Mufson writes. “And it also will build on its retail gasoline station chain to offer recharging to electric vehicles along with convenience items such as food.”

All that is being done with an eye toward lowering carbon emissions by about a third this decade. In February, BP said it will try to slash its own greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by the middle of the century.

To fund that transition, investors will have to weather an immediate 50 percent cut in dividends. Still, on Tuesday, investors didn’t appear immediately shaken by the announcement, with shares up 7 percent.

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