The oil industry plays a major role in the global economy, as it is a central pillar in the world energy system. Its primary business practice nowadays composes of moving towards sustainable development in order to gain the trust of the public. The corporations of the oil industry started including “environmentally friendly” statements in their reports, media statements, and marketing strategies. While the companies demonstrate slight transitions to sustainability, it is hard to innovate and present ethically sourced and healthy product due to the negative image of its origin.
BP is one of the largest producers of oil in the world, hence with great leadership comes great responsibility. In the last company report, they announced the strategy to become a net zero company by 2050 (BP p.l.c., 2020). While it could seem a promising step, it might be late to try to recover from the ongoing climate crisis.
They claim to reduce direct carbon emissions related to production and transport. However, BP does not mention moving away from oil and gas production. The report, as well as the website, reassures stakeholders that sustainability is the company’s main priority while producing oil and gas remains their primary source of income.
The industries with a negative image, including tobacco, chemistry, and oil, are engaging in saving the environment movement by creating marketing strategies promoting them as more than just cigarettes or oil manufacturers. This global image enhancement operates as a shield against environment protectors, creating a false impression of making a change while keeping manufacturing the product, which practically caused the problem. Oil companies have set the expectations of being able to operate with a minimum negative influence on the environment. However, they are failing to shift from these expectations to the actual performance.
The primary way to regain public trust is building the connection between what the companies are saying about the issues of sustainability and what they are actually doing to achieve zero impact. Companies should research and develop new strategies as well as invest in renewable energy products to become serious players in the sustainability arena. They can gain public trust only if they show real actions towards zero waste and bring results to the stakeholders.
Since trust is critical to the business, without it, investors and customers will turn to the competitors or alternative ways of fulfilling the demand. The main strategy to regain this trust is to relocate the significant proportion from the money earned from oil production to the energy transition. Perhaps creating an affiliated company focusing solely on alternative energies, electrification, and sustainable products and investing in their development will show the public that the oil producers have serious intentions towards becoming net zero.
The energy business is their chance to remake the reputation and guarantee winning customers’ trust. While the public sees traditional oil business as a threat to the environment, creating a sustainable energy company can prove this wrong, showing that they can validate their intent by implementing real action.
Before the situation with climate change, gaining the trust of the public for the oil industry consisted of low cost and security. Today, the model broke down and started the transition to a sustainable future, and oil companies have to keep up. However, the practice shows that despite implementing numerous actions towards sustainability, oil companies’, including BP’s, transition to net zero remains a challenge. It will take time and multiple steps to become an ethical and environmentally friendly business in the eyes of the public.
Reference
BP p.l.c. (2020). Energy with purpose. Web.