BP - offsetting isn't the answer
Posted by DavidM in Driving | 7 October 2006
BP have been running campaigns throughout this year pushing themselves as part of the green agenda.
The first BP ads I noticed promoted alternative power over nuclear in the run-up to the government's energy review. Some commentators said this was a purely political move by BP as nuclear poses a greater threat to their business. Personally I was okay with it as I don't believe nuclear is the long-term answer.
However, I do have a problem with their latest advert. I've seen it in a number of magazines, including the Guardian's Weekend magazine last Saturday.
It has 'It is now possible to drive in neutral' in big bold letters. It tells you that road transpost accounts for around 22% of CO2 emissions in the UK and you can 'neutralise' the impact of your motoring buy buying offsets at the BP initiated targetneutral.com.
It rounds off with the statement that BP's own fuel tankers are CO2 neutral because they buy offsets equivalant to the tankers' CO2 emissions.
I really dislike this. It send entirely the wrong message to drivers - don't worry about all the crap you're pumping into the atmosphere, carry on and relieve your guilt by putting money into offsets.
Don't get me wrong, in a choice between nothing and offsets, I'll take offsets. But the core message has to be to reduce your output to a minimum, then use offsets for the remainder you can't eradicate.
This is a lazy solution by BP, spending a bit of money on a website and advertising rather than making real change. I would rather see an advert announcing that their tankers ran on LPG, hydrogen or biofuels (after all, they claim to be investing heavily in biofuels).
So for me, BP failed with this advert. Instead of reinforcing a perception of the company as an embracer of climate change, it has left me with the impression it's still more marketing than action.
