A week can be a long time in politics.
It turns out you can also squeeze a lot into seven days in the energy industry.
This week has been Climate Week – with the UN gathered in New York to discuss climate change, and protesters taking to the streets to urge faster action.
With that in mind, we highlight seven stories from the past week that show a snapshot of our industry’s progress towards advancing the energy transition:
BP CEO Bob Dudley speaks at the conference in New York
Carbon capture comes closer with a kickstart from the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI).
Chaired by BP CEO Bob Dudley and representing 13 of the world's largest producers, the OGCI met with an international group of top government leaders this week in New York.
They announced plans to partner to "create viable market conditions" to advance carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS) and contribute to a net zero economy.
It's part of OGCI's ‘Kickstarter’ work to enable low-carbon industrial hubs for CCUS through shared transportation, storage and economies of scale.
The OGCI also unveiled its latest low carbon investments and noted progress against its methane intensity target.
Collective action on methane gathered pace, as BP joined an initiative that will help the energy industry to reduce methane leaks.
The Collaboratory to Advance Methane Science will study and share scientifically-proven strategies for tackling methane emissions.
Earlier this month, BP showcased how cameras, drones, virtual reality and other technologies are helping to spot and stop gas leaks.
An infrared camera detects methane emissions
Lightsource BP expands in the US
Solar energy dialled up two notches with big announcements from Lightsource BP.
It raised more than $140 million in funding for a portfolio of seven large-scale solar projects right across the US. The 125MW portfolio could power the equivalent of more than 19,000 homes.
Separately, plans to build one of Colorado’s largest solar facilities took a step closer to reality as the parties involved reached a long-term agreement to develop a major solar facility in the city of Pueblo.
The Natural Climate Solutions Alliance, co-convened by the World Economic Forum and World Business Council on Sustainable Development, is a CEO-led group of stakeholders aiming to increase financing for natural climate solutions – and BP is part of it.
Land use, including agriculture, forests, peatland and mangroves, currently account for about a quarter of net anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing those emissions and increasing the capacity of the land sector to absorb emissions is referred to as natural climate solutions (NCS) and is one of the fastest, largest and least costly ways to help meet the Paris goals.
NCS are thought to be able to deliver about a third of the emissions reductions needed by 2030 to meet the Paris 2°C temperature goal in a cost-effective manner. They also bring many other benefits, such as forest and biodiversity conservation, water quality and management and sustainable community livelihoods.
Natural climate solutions include preserving the planet's forests
Solidia building bricks in production
Concrete turned a shade greener as BP-backed technology to reduce its carbon footprint is being used more widely.
A major US concrete manufacturer has introduced the world’s first products made with Solidia Technologies® concrete – one of the many low carbon businesses in which BP invests as part of its efforts to advance the energy transition.
BP's carbon offsetting programme gets a boost. A Brazilian ceramics factory project, an oil recycling project in the US and Indonesian biogas production will join the BP Target Neutral portfolio.
In total, the portfolio has the capacity to reduce more than one million tonnes of carbon emissions every year, while improving the livelihoods of almost 1.5 million people through better access to energy, healthcare, education and employment opportunities.
Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
BP leaders hosted climate stand-ups in 40 countries
Almost 90 climate ‘stand-ups’ took place in BP across 40 countries, where staff shared knowledge and insights about low carbon activities.
Together with local group leaders, they exchanged ideas for how our scientists, technologists and engineers can help to accelerate the energy transition.