Free Flip by Peter Sheahan Page A

are a part. We in BP have reached that point.' This was the first time an oil industry executive had spoken out in support of doing something about the climate. Oil company or not, BP deserved some kudos for this.
    In 2002, Browne gave a high-profile speech saying global warming was 'real and required urgent action', and he was one of the most vocal industry advocates of signing the so-called Kyoto accords on international action to combat global warming. In 2004, BP started making low-sulfur diesel fuel, and it is creating a network of hydrogen fuelling stations in California. In 2000, BP purchased Solarex and became a leading producer of solar panels. BP Solar, to be renamed BP Alternative Energy, accounts for 20 per cent of world photovoltaic (solar panel) production.
    All this was to the benefit of the company's image and its bottom line, and I am sure it is a viable strategy for the long term. But BP will face increasing pressure to make its operations as green in fact as its marketing is in spirit. This task will fall to Andy Hayward, the designated successor to John Browne, who in 2007 was forced into a lucrative early retirement – his golden parachute of £22 million in a lump sum and a million pounds a year more for life provoked outrage all on its own – in large part because of the company's environmental missteps under his leadership. Browne dictated so much cost cutting that essential maintenance on BP's Prudhoe Bay, Alaska pipeline and basic safety measures at its huge Texas City refinery were not adequately funded. The pipeline had to be shut down in 2006 when it leaked along its swathe of northern Alaskan wilderness. The refinery had to be shut down when an explosion killed fifteen people. They were a public relations gift to critics who accused BP of greenwashing, which is defined as 'disinformation disseminated by an organisation so as to present an environmentally responsible public image'.
    At the same time, BP's 'Beyond Petroleum' play remains a great strategy, if future reality matches present marketing. The marketing has been so successful that I believe it has won the company significant leeway with customers to get things right. In seminars on employment branding I flash a slide with the logos of the biggest oil companies in the world, and it is BP that gets the most favourable response. It is mixed of course, with some very cynical, but all in all the BP campaign has been successful. Almost unanimously audiences say that all other things being equal, they would accept a job at BP first. Some people even insist that 'Beyond Petroleum' is actually BP's legal name.
    One of BP's billboard and print ads reads, 'BP: Solar, natural gas, hydrogen, wind. And oh yes, oil. It's a start.' I agree. Now BP must execute and finish the job of 'greenin?' itself, or a competitor will hijack the strategy and the customer goodwill that it has temporarily won.
    An article titled 'Green is Good' in the Bulletin cited the following examples of companies doing good in the green space:
Continental Airlines spent US$16 billion to upgrade the efficiency of its aircraft, including fuel-saving winglets that have led to a 5 per cent reduction in emissions.
British Airways will sell customers offsets for their share of the carbon emissions generated by the flights they take. Sadly only one in 200 consumers have stuck their hands in their own pockets for carbon offsets, but the trend is growing among affluent, socially conscious consumers. Even if the big impact from carbon offset trading will no doubt be on the part of multinational companies driven by regulatory pressure and general public sentiment, this offer effectively brands British Airways as green among a much wider customer demographic than the relatively small group who buy a per-flight carbon offset.
Tesco in the UK has bio-diesel delivery trucks and offers merchandise discounts to customers who bring in their own shopping bags.
HP will take back any of its own