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just a few short years ago BP proudly
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told us they were embarking on a journey
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and I quote in support of our purpose to
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reimagine energy for people and our
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planet and our ambition to become a net
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zero Company by 2050 or sooner and to
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help get the world to Net Zero well this
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week the oil giant revealed a sizable
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slump in profits and its new chief
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executive has vowed to deliver a
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fundamental reset so what's going on is
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net zero falling out of fashion welcome
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to the week in business with me
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may now as recently as 2020 BP's annual
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report was Dripping with feel-good
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sentiment about a clean energy future in
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tone and design it looked more like an
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advert for innocent smoothies The Firm
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was unambiguous their future wasn't in
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being an international oil company but
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an integrated Energy company with
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massively ambitious plans to ramp up and
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up their investment in renewable energy
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they said that this journey will and I
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quote require patience but it will over
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time create a more valuable company for
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its shareholders but it hasn't worked
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out quite like that Bernard Looney the
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CEO who wanted to lead this journey has
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gone and his successor has been left to
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survey the wind turbine dotted landscape
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and it's not that pretty the company
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just reported a significant profit slump
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and a decline in revenues and the boss
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is now promised to deliver a new
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direction for BP so which direction will
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it go in well if investor Elliot
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management has anything to do with it it
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probably won't be towards a clean green
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future the activist hedge fund has taken
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a near 5% stake in the oil giant worth
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almost 4 billion pounds and is
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understood to be pushing BP to massively
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row back on its green investment
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strategy focusing more on well oil and
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gas now analysts cite rival shell as an
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example of the wisdom of this approach
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with its current CEO having reversed
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many of the Net Zero pledges made by his
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predecessor now Shell's years have risen
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sharply since the New Broom came in and
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the business is now worth North of60
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billion in contrast to BP's 75 billion
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pounds now this all comes at a time when
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the Mantra in America is drill baby
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drill with Donald Trump promising a new
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golden age for American Energy meanwhile
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in the UK the government continues to
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insist that Net Zero is both vitally
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important and eminently achievable but
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its biggest cheerleader Ed millerand is
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being forced to swallow policies that
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rub up against this commitment not least
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the expansion of Heathrow which has
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climate activists up in arms or up trees
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or doubtless before long sitting in the
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middle of motorways again now
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politically Nigel farage and reform UK
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sense a major opportunity to make the
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pursuit of Net Zero a huge wedge issue
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and at a speech in the city earlier this
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week the Insurgent party which now tops
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the polls said they would scrap Net Zero
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calling the objective stupid and
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pledging to tax wind and solar Farms
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basically out of existence they said
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they are serving notice on the net zero
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industry now make of this what you will
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but here at cityam we've been inundated
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this week with pictures for comment
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pieces seeking to remake the case for
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Net Zero and a lot of people are trying
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to get on the front foot in this debate
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making the argument that Net Zero and
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economic growth go hand inand and we
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have carried that argument but we've
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also given space to voices saying that
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while the policy itself isn't
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necessarily dared the pursuit of it the
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pursuit of all costs at it and The
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Binding timeline targets will come at a
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high cost now it's good that we're
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having this debate policies of this
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magnitude and impact need to be probed
3:35
and adjusted and debated now it's clear
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where energy policy is moving and it's
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clear where technology is going to be
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transformative and of course
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environmental concerns Aren't Dead
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they're not even dead at the major oil
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companies they're just coming up against
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reality now speaking of reality did you
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think I'd make it through an episode
3:52
without mentioning Rachel Reeves you
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know it's been a tough week for the
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chancellor when the best thing that
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happened to her was the UK margin
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technically avoiding a recession the
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latest GDP figures pointed to economic
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growth of 0.4% in December meaning the
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last quarter of 2024 was well basically
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flat stagnant may be another word for it
4:14
December's growth figure does however
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bring some modest relief to the
4:17
government though it should be noted
4:18
that the growth in question was pretty
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much driven by strong trading in pubs
4:21
bars and restaurants Christmas in other
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words and it masks a grim reality that
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GDP per head fell in the final three
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months of the year now economists are
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pretty clear that the Outlook is still
4:32
deeply concerning and as if we needed
4:34
any more evidence of this the latest
4:35
figures released today show that hiring
4:37
continues to slump vacancies are down
4:39
employers are braced for higher costs
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and regulations coming online in April
4:43
all of which will make the debate about
4:45
the accuracy of Rachel Reeves CV feel
4:48
like a comedy interlude speaking of
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Comedy we've uh no time left to discuss
4:52
the fact that JP Morgan's 5 days a week
4:55
back in the canary Warf office policy is
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being undermined by the fact that there
4:59
AR enough desks for everyone no such
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problem at City a where as you can see
5:04
we have all the space we need and the
5:06
paper will be back on Tuesday of course
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and in the meantime the cam app and
5:10
website will keep you up toate and in
5:12
the know that's it from me though have a
