Energy producer BP says it wants to eliminate or offset all carbon dioxide emissions from its operations and the oil and gas it sells to customers by 2050 although it remains unclear how it would achieve such an ambitious target.
London-based BP's goals include becoming a net zero emitter in its own production of energy but also to reduce the carbon dioxide created by its customers as they use that energy - the bulk of emissions from the industry.
Doing so would require not only a shift to cleaner energy sources but also coming up with new technologies to offset emissions or extract CO2 from the atmosphere.
BP chief executive Bernard Looney declared the company's intentions to achieve "net zero" carbon emissions by 2050. Source: AFP
"The world's carbon budget is finite and running out fast; we need a rapid transition to net zero," chief executive Bernard Looney said in a statement.
"We all want energy that is reliable and affordable, but that is no longer enough. It must also be cleaner."
In a presentation in London that featured climate scientists, investors and journalists, Looney acknowledged that targets and more specifics would follow.
He compared the announcements, which come only two weeks into his tenure as CEO, as being setting the destination in a GPS.
"We're starting with a destination,"' he said.
"The details will come."
