Good morning.
I sat down with BP CEO Bernard Looney yesterday—one day after he reported record profits and also revealed his company would no longer meet its pledge to reduce oil production and carbon emissions by 40% in 2030. He was drubbed in the press for what was called a “rollback of climate targets” (Fortune), “dialing back elements of [his] high-profile push into renewable energy” (WSJ), and a “significant U turn” (FT). I asked: Can society really count on profit-seeking companies like his to get us to net zero by 2050? His answer:
“There are two things that need to happen in this world. Number one, we need to accelerate the energy transition. And number two, that transition needs to be orderly. It needs to be orderly, because if it's not, supply and demand get out of whack, you get what happened last year. Prices will skyrocket, and people around the world will be dealing with a cost-of-living crisis. We're doing both—accelerating the energy transition, and ensuring the transition is an orderly one.
