EDF Praises BP'S Commitment To Cutting Greenhouse Pollutants

The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) today praised British Petroleum (BP) for committing to voluntarily reduce its global greenhouse gas emissions to 10% below 1990 baseline levels by 2010. This is double the global target reduction agreed to by the world’s industrialized nations at last December’s international climate negotiations in Japan, and exceeds the 7% US target commitment.

The reductions will be achieved through the use of new technology, energy efficiency, and renewable energy as determined by market incentives including BP’s internal emissions trading program. This strategy was developed as part of a 1997 EDF/BP joint partnership established to develop projects designed to demonstrate the environmental and economic effectiveness of market mechanisms in reducing greenhouse gases.

“One of the world’s largest energy companies is tackling global warming with the actions that matter most ? making real cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. BP’s strong commitment sets a powerful new standard for corporate responsibility,” said Fred Krupp, executive director of EDF. “BP’s effort will encourage businesses and governments in the industrialized and developing world to meet their environmental responsibilities, while also blazing a path for smart investment.”

“BP is forging the critical link between climate change solutions and sound economics,” said Dr. Daniel J. Dudek, an EDF senior economist. “Through its willingness to master the opportunities for emissions reductions created by emissions trading and to invest in projects fundamental to solving the problem of climate change, BP is showing the entire international community what kind of response governments and business in every part of the world need to make in order to meet the challenge of climate change.

“BP’s ambitious reduction plan underscores the power of applying economic solutions to the most daunting of environmental problems. In less than two months, international negotiators will be meeting in Buenos Aires to work out the details needed to implement the emissions trading provisions of the Kyoto Protocol. In the near term, BP’s dual commitment to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions and to emissions trading sends a pointed message that while nations continue negotiations, the company is moving ahead to meet its commitments using the flexible mechanisms promised by the Protocol. In the long term, BP’s actions show that the climate change challenge and business opportunity can be successfully integrated,” said Dudek.