BP dropping its green ambitions is a travesty. But that’s exactly how capitalism works
Companies will never solve the climate emergency alone. The impetus for change needs to come from government
It would be very easy to be sharply critical of BP, given its sudden volte-face on its environmental commitments. Under pressure from a shareholder, Elliott Management, it has abandoned the green ambitions it announced in 2020 and pivoted squarely back to an overwhelming focus on oil and gas.
While easy, it would arguably be unhelpful, and perhaps even misguided. Because viewed in the round, this isn’t really about BP: it’s about capitalism at large, and its inability to respond to the climate crisis in the manner we need.
Brett Christophers is a professor in the Institute for Housing and Urban Research at Sweden’s Uppsala University and author of The Price is Wrong: Why Capitalism Won’t Save the Planet
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