BP Target Neutral Assurance and Advisory Panel Public Statement
March 2015
This statement represents the BP Target Neutral Advisory and Assurance Panel’s (AAP)
views on the programme in its advisory capacity in relation to the period from January
2014 through December 2014.
Overview
Total Tonnes offset through Target Neutral
BP Target Neutral (BPTN) remains a
technically-impressive offsetting
programme, and BP continues to make
good progress developing certain aspects
of its offer and sourcing high-quality
offsetting projects. In 2014, BPTN
exceeded its target retirements as a result
of offsetting the FIFA World Cup and its
Castrol Offer.
2006/2007*………………………
2008………………………………
2009………………………………
2010………………………………
2011………………………………
2012……………………………
2013………………………………
2014………………………………
83,865
69,587
46,418
29,291
86,579
164,822
142,579
675,954
During the past year, BPTN notably
Cumulative tonnes offset to date 1,299,096
broadened its brand visibility by offsetting
journeys taken to major global events
* BP Target Neutral launched in late August 2006
including FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014,
Commonwealth Games Glasgow 2014, and
the World Future Energy Summit. BPTN also developed a number of innovative offers
including ‘B2B’ and ‘B2B2C’ products (enabling business customers and consumers to
purchase a range of carbon neutral products, from autogas and lubricants, through to
logistics).
BPTN has made good progress in working with BP businesses and by year end, had
activities in development in all Downstream businesses including Fuels, Lubricants, Air BP
and Petrochemicals. However, BPTN’s contribution to business value within BP remains
tactical. There continues to be ongoing debate about the strategic value of BPTN as a
sales tool versus BPTN as part of BP’s core values. The AAP have advised that the short
term focus on BPTN as a sales tool will most likely gain greater internal traction and will
help position the business as a key part of BP’s offering which will be especially critical as
it undergoes evaluation during BP’s transformation process in the first half of 2015.
In addition, BPTN will need to make further progress on how to quantify the whole of
reduce, replace, and neutralise programme to be able to assess the total carbon effect
and not just the reductions achieved through offsets. This will help value TN’s broader
contribution. Further, the AAP advise that BPTN also needs to look at the “beyond carbon”
in part because there is the risk that offsetting will become a thing of the past. BPTN will
therefore need to broaden its remit in 2015 to attract customers and other internal and
external stakeholders. This will again help BPTN position itself as a central part of BP’s
core strategic and sales offerings.
Finally, AAP would like to acknowledge the important work done by BPTN as an active
member of the International Carbon Offset & Reduction Alliance (www.ICROA.org), in
particular the research study undertaken with Imperial College London to quantify the
social and economic benefits that carbon projects deliver beyond the carbon benefit.
Progress against the Panel’s Recommendations from Last Year
In our previous Panel Statement, we urged BP to:
1) Develop the stories and indicators that illustrate the various ways that Target Neutral is
an asset to BP, and use these to significantly improve staff awareness, engagement
and uptake of Target Neutral
BPTN has supported all BP’s major sponsorship activity in 2014 including BP’s
sponsorship of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, Castrol’s sponsorship of the FIFA
World Cup Brazil, BP UAE’s sponsorship of the World Future Energy Summit and the
internal BP Helios Awards.
In each case, BPTN ran a spectator carbon offsetting programme to raise awareness of
the carbon impact of staging such events, encourage awareness of climate change and
provide participants with practical tools to reduce and offset emissions. Reach through
communications was in excess of ~300,000 people.
Specifically for the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, BPTN has helped BP to
strengthen and deepen conversations with Masdar.
BPTN developed a staff training programme together with the Eden Trust to give staff a
deeper understanding of the challenges of climate change and consider innovative ways
to respond. As commented earlier, a more strategic role of BPTN must be confirmed to
deliver programmes like this more broadly across BP.
Finally, BPTN continue to communicate with its online community of ~40,000 through
newsletter which have an open rate of ~50%, well above the average for similar industry
communications.
2) Continue to develop creative B2B2C offers as a means to engage an ever greater
number of end-consumers around the Reduce, Replace and Offset message
This was a key area of focus for BPTN during 2014 and is beginning to bear fruit through
the partnership with Castrol and other BP businesses, confirming this is an area that is
likely be particularly fruitful for BPTN in terms of engaging with consumers, as well as
demonstrating the business value of sustainability propositions more generally.
The product – Castrol Professional – is the world’s first range of carbon neutral lubricants
and over 2014 and 2015 is being rolled out globally.
The second launch was carbon neutral autogas in Germany, again a world first. The pilot
was implemented towards the end of 2014 and we look forward to seeing how this
initiative progresses in 2015.
3) Build BPTN as an international brand
While the association with the FIFA World Cup and Commonwealth Games in 2014 helped
BPTN build brand awareness, further work needs to be done to establish BPTN in the
mind of its target audience - as a core part of the BP brand, as stand-alone offering with
well-understood value and as part of the universe of sustainability-related business
initiatives. An essential part of this will be to use existing BP branding and marketing
channels as a platform for the BPTN brand. This is an issue that the Panel and BPTN
team have discussed on many occasions in the past but as yet does not seem to have
gained sufficient traction within the company; for example, TN is still not visible in BP
consumer outlets, corporate marketing materials or sponsorship. AAP hopes that this is
something that can be further addressed during 2015.
4) Demonstrate a strengthening of the strategic link between Target Neutral and BP
Despite ongoing conversations, both internally and with the AAP, a number of factors –
including the ongoing focus on the aftermath of Deepwater Horizon, problems arising from
the sanctions against Russia and the departure of the previous Chief Executive of
Downstream - have mitigated against this recommendation being fully taken forward.
Nevertheless, the AAP continues to believe that this is an essential part of strengthening
both BPTN and BP’s overall positioning and offering and will take the matter up again in
2015 with the new BP Downstream team once internal restructuring has been completed.
Recommendations for 2015
1. Focus on building B2B partnerships through BP’s businesses to encourage
collaboration in carbon reduction
2. Develop and secure internal agreement on BPTN’s role in BP’s broader sales and
marketing strategy
3. Develop and pilot tools for measuring the overall carbon impact of the reduce, replace
and neutralise activities
4. Explore a wider environmental and social sustainability narrative in which both to wrap
BPTN’s current remit and to strengthen the sales pitch
SIGNED
Rita Clifton, Mark Kenber, Tim Smit
The members of the BP Target Neutral Assurance and Advisory Panel act in a personal
capacity. The organisational affiliations below are listed for identification purposes only.
Members have been invited to sit on the Panel in their individual capacity not as
representatives of their respective organisations.
----------------------------------------THE REMIT OF THE PANEL
Our purpose is to provide independent advice and assurance to Target Neutral, including:
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Advising and providing critical challenge on the strategic direction and on the
operational running of the initiative.
Monitoring the initiative’s progress.
Providing proper overview and coordination of the educational elements of the
initiative, notably around improving carbon literacy and stimulating behaviour change.
Providing a high-level assurance function to consider whether funds are appropriately
distributed.
Reporting to stakeholders on the initiative’s policies, systems, processes and
performance.