BP calls for action now on climate change

BP's Iain Conn spoke about how his company will respond to the challenge of climate change, in light of the Copenhagen Summit.

By Elliott White

Iain Conn, chief executive of the BP's refining and marketing business, described how every country must act now to avoid the threat of climate change. The comments were part of a lecture at Imperial College Business School and follow December's Copenhagen Summit on climate change, which Conn described as a ‘disappointment' despite the heavy-weight political attendance.

The conference failed to reach any international agreement on how to respond to the threat of climate change. Conn called for national governments to begin with practical and possible steps to limit carbon dioxide emissions, using known methods and technologies. "In the absence of international consensus, we must end the ponderous thinking and start doing," he said. "A pragmatic view of possible steps, providing material change is the only way to sensibly reach the next generation of technologies as they mature."

This plan of action involved further investment in technological innovation and energy efficiency underpinned by more effective energy markets and robust carbon pricing. In the short and medium term the plan seeks improvements in existing technologies to buy time for nascent approaches to develop whilst infrastructure and market conditions mature.

Conn illustrated how this approach might work by examining the transportation and primary energy sectors. On personal cars, Conn acknowledged that many expect battery power to replace fossil fuels in the longer term. However, current cost of electricity through the UK's national grid which is generates electricity by burning fossil fuels means that, widespread adoption is not currently attractive or environmentally beneficial.

Electricity from renewable and nuclear power plants with improved battery technologies will alter this equation in time. But Conn believes that before we reach that point, wider use of sustainable bio-fuels and greater vehicle efficiency is essential. The changes needed to change behaviour rely on public policy, taxation and an effective carbon market - which charges for emissions. A new partnership between government, businesses and consumers, building consensus and lowering carbon emissions at the national level, through difficult decisions and policy appears to be the way forward.

In the for a of international policy, Conn called for ‘consistency and predictability' between the various governments elected between today and 2050 - a milestone in the scientific debate at which point the severe environmental consequences of climate change are expected to be visible.
"We can't wait for full agreement between all the 192 countries of the world before we act," he said. "We need broad alignment of goals and to start making these changes, even if only at a national level, today."

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