BP 2015 Annual Report Download - page 50

Environment and society
Throughout the life cycle of our projects and operations, we
aim to manage the environmental and social impacts of our
presence.
• BP is helping to meet the demands of a lower-carbon future and
collaborating with others on climate change issues.
• BP-operated businesses with the potential to spill oil are on track to
complete updates to spill planning scenarios and response strategies
by the end of 2016.
• We are progressing towards alignment with the United Nations
Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
2014 direct GHG
Acquisitions
Update of global
warming potential
Divestments
Operational
changes
Real sustainable
reductions
2 equivalent)
Greenhouse gas emissions
abc
(MteCO
46.0
50.0
54.0
-0.1 48.9 +0.4
48.6 +0.6 +0.3 -1.0
2015 direct GHG
a This is based on BP’s equity share basis (excluding BP’s share of Rosneft).
b The 2015 figure reflects our update of the global warming potential for methane from 21 to 25,
in line with IPIECA’s guidelines.
c Because of rounding, some totals may not agree exactly with the sum of their counterparts.
Managing our impacts
We review our management of material issues such as climate change,
water, how we work with communities and human rights. This includes
examining emerging risks and actions taken to mitigate them. We identify
areas for improvement and work to address these where appropriate.
Our operating sites can have a lifespan of several decades and our
operations are expected to work to reduce their impacts and risks. This
starts in early project planning and continues through operations and
decommissioning.
Our operating management system (OMS) includes practices that
set out requirements and guidance for how we identify and manage
environmental and social impacts. The practices apply to our major
projects , projects that involve new access and those that could affect an
international protected area.
In the planning stages of these projects we complete a screening process to
identify the most significant potential environmental and social impacts. We
completed this process for five projects in 2015. Following screening, projects
are required to carry out impact assessments, identify mitigation measures
and implement these in project design, construction and operations.
BP’s environmental expenditure in 2015 totalled $8,017 million (2014
$4,024 million, 2013 $4,288 million), including charges related to the Gulf
of Mexico oil spill. For a breakdown of environmental expenditure see
page 233.
Climate change
Meeting the climate challenge requires efforts by all – governments,
companies and consumers. We believe governments must lead by
providing a clear, stable and effective climate policy framework, including
putting a price on carbon – one that treats all carbon equally.
We expect that greenhouse gas (GHG) policy will have an increasing
impact on our businesses, operating costs and strategic planning, but may
also offer opportunities for the development of lower-carbon technologies
and businesses. There is a growing number of emission pricing schemes
globally, including in Europe, California and China, additional monitoring
regulations in the US, and more focus on reducing flaring and methane
emissions in many jurisdictions.
We are focusing on ways to reduce GHG emissions, including working to
improve the energy efficiency of our operations and our products. Around
half of our current upstream portfolio is natural gas, which produces about
half as much carbon dioxide (CO2) as coal per unit of power generated,
and we operate renewable businesses in biofuels and onshore wind.
We currently require larger projects, and those for which emissions costs
would be a material part of the project, to apply a standard carbon cost to
the projected GHG emissions over the life of the project. In industrialized
countries, our standard cost assumption is currently $40 per tonne of CO2
equivalent. We use this cost as part of the economic evaluation of the
investment.
We seek to address potential climate change impacts on our new projects
in the design phase. We have guidance for existing operations and
projects on how to assess potential climate risks and impacts – to enable
mitigation steps to be incorporated into project planning, design and
operations.
We are also working with our peers. For example, we are an active
participant in the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative, a voluntary, CEO-led
industry initiative that aims to catalyse meaningful action on climate
change through best practice sharing and collaboration. We also joined
with seven other oil and gas companies calling on the UN and
governments to put a price on carbon.
See bp.com/climatechange for more information about our activities.
Greenhouse gas emissions
We report on direct and indirect GHG emissions on a carbon dioxide-
equivalent (CO2e) basis. Direct emissions include CO2 and methane from
the combustion of fuel and the operation of facilities, and indirect
emissions include those resulting from the purchase of electricity, heat,
steam or cooling.
Our approach to reporting GHG emissions broadly follows the IPIECA/
API/IOGP Petroleum Industry Guidelines for Reporting GHG Emissions.
We calculate emissions based on the fuel consumption and fuel
properties for major sources rather than the use of generic emission
factors. We do not include nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons,
perfluorocarbons and sulphur hexafluoride as they are not material and it
is not practical to collect this data.
Greenhouse gas emissions (MteCO2e)
2015 2014 2013
Operational controla
Direct emissions 51.4c54.1 –
Indirect emissions 7.0 7.5d–
BP equity shareb
Direct emissions 48.9c48.6 50.3
Indirect emissions 6.96.8e6.7f
a Operational control data comprises 100% of emissions from activities that are operated by BP,
going beyond the IPIECA guidelines by including emissions from certain other activities such as
contracted drilling activities. Data for emissions on an operational control basis was not available
prior to 2014. In 2014 we changed our GHG reporting boundary from a BP equity-share basis to
an operational control basis.
b BP equity share comprises our share of BP’s consolidated entities and equity accounted entities,
other than BP’s share of TNK-BP and Rosneft.
c The 2015 figure reflects our update of the global warming potential for methane from 21 to 25, in
line with IPIECA’s guidelines.
d The reported 2014 figure of 7.2Mte has been amended to 7.5Mte.
e The reported 2014 figure of 6.6Mte has been amended to 6.8Mte.
f The reported 2013 figure of 6.6Mte has been amended to 6.7Mte.
In 2015 we updated the global warming potential for methane from 21 to
25. Without this update, our reported direct emissions would have been
lower, primarily due to divestments in Alaska.
The ratio of our total GHG emissions reported on an operational control
basis to gross production was 0.24teCO2e/te production in 2015 (2014
0.25teCO2e/te). Gross production comprises upstream production,
refining throughput and petrochemicals produced.
See bp.com/greenhousegas for more information about our GHG
management and performance.
BP Annual Report and Form 20-F 201546