“Beyond Petroleum”. That was the moniker that BP ran with for many years. They lead us to believe they were the “Greenest” oil company out there. Was it all a fake? Maybe it was a change of management that lead BP into a fall back away from it’s Green goals.
Lord Browne was the CEO when the Green push began
Wikipedia says,
“From 1997, Browne sought to recreate BP as a “green” energy company. The company linked itself in its corporate communications with green issues by the overt link of its BP initials with the phrase “Beyond Petroleum”. Browne stated that the right to self determination is crucial for people everywhere, and that he sees his company’s mission as to find ways to meet current needs without excessive harm to the environment, while developing future, more sustainable sources of energy.”
Was this one of the best examples of “Greenwashing” ever performed by a large company or the lack of influence of Mr Browne, who retired hurriedly when it was determined he may have done some illegal financial deals to support his gay lover, that allowed BP to jettison their Green goals.
If Mr Browne would have stayed longer would we be writing not about the great gulf oil spill but of how BP was leading the way in electric vehicle charge station installation?
BP had also begun an initiative to put solar panels on some of it’s retail gas stations,
In December 2007 the Solar Power Authority web site wrote,
“BP (Beyond Petroleum) gas stations are starting to integrate solar canopies (the cover for the gas pumps) that produce energy to run the entire store! Some consider it “greenwashing” but BP has definitely been taking steps towards investing in renewable energy, and fuel in particular.
The Canopy is usually set up to cover eight fuel stations and is constructed with over four hundred photovoltaic PV modules to generate electricity. Some larger installations are in the works at different locations across the country to cover up to ten fuel stations with enough capacity to produce 20 kilowatts of energy.”
It’s difficult to tell the status of this project in 2010. I had heard rumors that many of the panels at the stations were never activated for some reason.
Branding is an important part of a company’s projection of itself but consumers all trust a great deal that the brand is truly as good as the company says it is.
With oil and gas companies I feel we should all be very careful about believing everything that is promoted by the company about it’s brand
Energy companies are soooo hoping that the current infrastructure they offer will continue for as long as they can force it. They will make their brand include these plans to keep things the same. But it is not an infrastructure that is good for America or the world.
Just in case their current infrastructure does not fit the future with competition from alternative energies, they will keep their hands in all pies so that if one hits they will be there to profit from it.
So be wary of all brands but especially of an energy company that tells you it is for less CO2 and alternative energy.
Leave a Reply