Frédéric Baudry is president, bp Australia and SVP fuels & low carbon solutions, Asia Pacific, bringing 30 years’ experience from across the breadth of bp’s global operations. He is responsible for the mobility, convenience and midstream businesses in Australia, New Zealand, China, India and Indonesia, and heads up bp’s new regions, cities & solutions team for the AsPac region. This article was first published in the Australian British Chamber of Commerce's summer edition newsletter.
The UN Climate Change Conference and COP26 will bring parties together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The urgency and opportunities of the journey towards a zero-carbon economy will be a key theme for discussion and as a global community we must do everything we can to step up and help each other get there.
At bp, we want to see the world rapidly transition its energy systems. This rewiring of the world’s energy system is consistent with continued global economic growth and prosperity. It will provide opportunities for businesses and people everywhere. Importantly, it is also necessary – the world is on an unsustainable path. The business as usual approach is not enough to get the world back on track and, while our business is resilient to this scenario, we embrace and encourage the race to net zero.
That’s why bp set itself a new purpose – reimagining energy for people and our planet. We are transforming our company from an International Oil Company to an Integrated Energy Company. We want to be part of the solution. We have an ambition to be a net zero company by 2050 or sooner, and we want to help the world get there too.
So, what does this mean for bp in Australia? This is something I am personally very excited about as I lead a team dedicated to helping countries, cities and corporations decarbonise.
Many of our partners and customers are responsible for significant economic outcomes in their countries, and they depend on us for their fuel and energy needs. Most of these businesses are in energy intensive sectors that are hard to abate, such as mining, agriculture, heavy transport, and even the oil and gas sector itself. Several, especially in mining and transport, share our ambition to get to net zero and we are collaborating to shape their path to net zero.
bp has a long and proud history in Australia. The country has been hugely important to us for more than 100 years, and it will continue to be important to us well into the future. Our ambitions will be built on the variety and diversity of bp’s operations in the country, from our gas exploration, production and marketing activities in Western Australia, or our growing portfolio of renewables projects with Lightsource bp on the east coast, to our demonstration and piloting of new and emerging energy technologies such as hydrogen.
And, of course, the best network and consumer offer in the convenience and mobility market.
So, you can see we have big ambitions here and abroad. As the world counts down to the COP26 international climate change conference next year, cooperation between companies and industries with governments and communities will be essential to accelerating action and meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement.
We don’t have all the answers. That’s why we are open about our ambitions and the need for strong partnerships to deliver the bespoke integrated solutions industries need.