What’s up with BP’s Tony Hayward?
He has significantly scaled back the company’s Alternative Energy unit in recent years, causing big name executives to seek greener pastures, and shelved the “Beyond Petroleum” slogan of his predecessor.
Yet, today he’s chirping about the good intentions of U.S. and Chinese negotiators at Copenhagen and BP’s plans for continued investment in renewables.
The FT has a preview of Hayward’s speech to the London Business School today (which is not up on the BP Web site yet), which seems like a PR effort to blunt criticism following the fourth quarter earnings call on Tuesday.
Hayward, apparently, will say that the company still plans to invest $1 billion a year in alternative energy, focussing its efforts on biofuels and solar power equipment — commercially viable areas.
He also is bullish on the price of carbon, expecting a doublig of today’s price of €13.
According to the FT, Hayward will say
this is our way of ensuring that our investments are competitive not only in today’s world but in a future where carbon has a more robust price.
Is the company trying to hold onto its enviro-credibility while becoming an increasingly marginal player in renewables?