Posted on 05/28/2003 6:19:01 AM PDT by Interesting Times
See you next week sometime!
Okay. But I'm not giving up the roasting pan!
UNDUE INFLUENCE |
Exxon Mobil Attack
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BP: Beyond Petroleum – or Beyond Probity?
UK-based British Petroleum became the world’s second largest hydrocarbons producer in 1998, when it finalized a $55 billion merger with Amoco Corporation and changed its name to BP Amoco. After a $36 billion merger with Arco the following year, the company adopted the simpler moniker BP. Now, according to its latest marketing campaign, BP no longer stands for British Petroleum, but for Beyond Petroleum.[1]
The company has installed expensive solar panels on 200 of its 17,000 service stations and launched a barrage of news releases and newspaper, television and “wall” ads asserting its basic corporate message: We protect the environment, vigorously support the Kyoto Protocol, devote vast sums to wind and solar energy – and by the way, still produce a little petroleum. (But we produce it more responsibly than our competitors.) Televised “interviews” with people on the street expand on the same themes.
One “Great Beyondo” ad announces that BP was the first oil company to publicly recognize the risks of global climate change and set a target to reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions. Another claims the company voluntarily introduced cleaner burning low-sulfur fuels. Yet another says, “We’re one of the largest producers of natural gas … and are investing in the new energy sources of the future – hydrogen and wind. It’s a start.”
A building-sized wall ad along Washington, DC’s New York Avenue boldly proclaims: “Solar, natural gas, hydrogen, wind. And oh yes, oil. It’s a start.” Another tries to get beyond the guffaw test with the line: “We believe in alternative energy. Like solar cappuccino.”
The ads have not gone unchallenged. Conservatives, environmentalists and journalists alike have voiced bemusement, skepticism and even outrage. Indeed, the credibility of the Beyond Petroleum message is neatly summed up by the fact that the enormous (30 x 60 foot) “wall” ads are made of vinyl – as in plastic, as in petroleum.
Certainly, the ads stretch the truth, gloss over inconvenient facts, and rely more on spin than on science, economics or reality. Fortune magazine reacted thus: “Well, please: If the world’s second largest oil company is beyond petroleum, FORTUNE is beyond words.”[2] One wag even suggested that BP might want to address its identity crisis yet again, file for one more name change – and just call the company BS.
A green activist group in the Netherlands decried BP’s “hypocrisy,” suggested that BP actually stands for “Boiling the Planet,” and noted that “the company is still increasing oil production … and moving to exploit some of the world’s most sensitive ecological areas.”[3] Others deride the entire campaign as “slick advertising” and blatant “greenwashing,” saying BP is hardly beyond petroleum; it’s “all about petroleum.”[4]
Clearly, BP’s effort to reinvent itself as a born-again savior of the environment raises some very interesting questions – especially against the backdrop of recent history, where the glowing claims of Enron, Global Crossing, WorldCom and other companies were ultimately revealed as nothing more that hot air, clever manipulation of facts and figures, and criminal fraud.
One can legitimately ask, Has BP really gone Beyond Petroleum – or just Beyond Probity?
But the basic question does not apply only to British Petroleum. It is symptomatic of a much larger problem. It is a highly visible example of the propensity of many corporations (for- and not-for-profit alike) to stretch the truth … reinvent reality … substitute hype, spin and brilliant advertising for honesty … and play fast and loose with ethics, the law and the numbers – to promote their products and agendas, attract investors (and donors), and convince pliant journalists, politicians and bureaucrats to turn the corporate agendas into coercive public policies.
One would think that all the condemnations, investigations, recriminations and legislation of the past year would foster a new era of honesty and protection of consumers and investors. Most companies and other organizations have always been honest. Most others have certainly gotten religion. But not all.
Some have merely become more ingenious, more arrogant in their stolid belief that their way is the True Way, or simply more fully protected by politicians and activists who share their agenda and arrogance.
In many cases, they voice newfound commitments to pious goals like sustainable development, Corporate Social Responsibility, saving Mother Earth, environmental justice and renewable energy. Often, they behave as though the mere utterance of these terms ends the debate and puts skeptics on the side of evil. Just as often, they arrogantly assume they are immune from any attempt to hold them responsible for their actions, because they are too vital to their local (or even the world) community to worry about accountability
What is happening is a profound and disturbing convergence of ideology, activism, marketing, politics and financial gain, all in the service of ultra-liberal political agendas.
This is occurring not just on the part of huge multinational corporations like BP. It is also the modus operandi for the huge multinational “ethical” investment groups, foundations and NGOs (“nonprofit” Non-Governmental Organizations) that increasingly dominate the global political scene. These groups often work hand-in-glove with many companies – condemning and shaking them down one day, then accepting secretive contributions and devising joint legislative, legal, regulatory and public relations strategies with them the next.
It is crucial that they be exposed to the harsh light of day – and that they be compelled to operate in accord with the same rules that govern the rest of our society.
Paul K. Driessen
Senior Fellow
Atlas Economic Research Foundation
Fairfax, VA 22031
December 28, 2002
Wind energy
Solar Power
Hydrogen
Biomass
Too much energy?
Energy – sustainable, abundant and affordable
Malaria and DDT
Starvation and biotechnology
International trade
Shareholder activists and stakeholders
Global climate change
In search of true Corporate Social Responsibility
British Petroleum
Ted Turner
ExxonMobil
ChevronTexaco, Sun Company, Ford, General Motors
Activists and institutional investors (including Robert Monks)
Institutional Shareholder Services
Claros Consulting
Campaign ExxonMobil
Dow Jones Sustainability Index
CERES (Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies)
Innovest Strategic Value Investors
A challenge for the Rule of Law
Johannesburg: End of the road for eco-imperialism?
LOL. I just HATE those BP ads.
ChevronTexaco’s renewable energy division focuses on fuel cells, improved batteries (via a joint venture with Ovonics), hydrogen, wind and solar. But the company gets about as much green ink and acclaim for these environmental investments as does ExxonMobil.
Shell Oil Company also operates “a fledgling wind-power business” and, having purchased Siemen's solar photovoltaic operations, is now the fourth-largest solar-energy business in the world. The company also emphasizes biomass – burning wood in power plants to generate electricity. It is planning to invest $500 million to $1 billion in renewables over the next five years (and a like amount in oil shale), and believes there is “a chance” that renewable energy could become a profitable business over the next several decades.[15]
I'm bookmarking this one. :)
Activists and institutional investors (including Robert Monks)
Institutional Shareholder Services
Claros Consulting
Campaign ExxonMobil
Dow Jones Sustainability Index
CERES (Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies)
Innovest Strategic Value Investors
A challenge for the Rule of Law
Not to be confused with ExxonMobil or the majority of its shareholders:
from the Campain ExxonMobil website:
"A shareholder campaign (MAF note: representing approx 22% of the total shares voted at this year's annual meeting) to convince ExxonMobil to take a responsible position on climate change. Campaign ExxonMobil was founded by faith and environmental groups, and works with institutional investors, corporate governance activists and financial analysts to highlight the financial risks to shareholders of ExxonMobil's current position."
(end)
Campaign ExxonMobil sponsors include Greenpeace, UPROAR, Human Rights Campaign, Equality Project, National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, National Transgender Advocacy Coalition, Out and Equal, PFLAG, Pride at Work
One difference between BP and ExxonMobil that this author should have put in big bold print is that according to BP, BP "vigorously support the Kyoto Protocol".
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