BP lets drivers ease conscience

Payment is based on emissions. Picture / Richard Robinson

BP has lifted the stakes in the battle to be seen as the most environmentally friendly oil company, launching a website which allows motorists to offset the carbon emissions from their cars by donating money to the development of renewable energy sources.

The website helps drivers to estimate the amount of carbon dioxide their cars emit each year, subsequently calculating how much they need to pay to neutralise the effects of their pollution.

The website will be not-for-profit, with all proceeds invested in a series of renewable energy projects across the globe.

BP says an average car, driven 60,000km a year, generates about four tonnes of carbon dioxide - enough to fill a hot-air balloon. The cost of neutralising this, says the website, would be about £20 ($60) a year.

Although the scheme, targetneutral, is open to all motorists, BP says it will make an additional contribution to scheme members who buy petrol at BP stations.

BP says the scheme has been developed in conjunction with a series of leading non-governmental organisations, and will be advised and monitored by an independent advisory and assurance panel chaired by Sir Jonathon Porritt, the founder of the sustainable development charity Forum for the Future.

Peter Mather, the head of BP's British operations, and a member of the advisory panel, said: "Targetneutral is a practical and straightforward step that BP is taking to enable drivers to help the environment. BP is taking the lead because our extensive research shows there is a huge consumer demand for such a scheme, but a general feeling from customers that they don't know where to start."

Mr Porritt said: "The scientific consensus on climate change is overwhelming: We need to take radical action now if we are to avoid catastrophic consequences. We all have a responsibility to take up that challenge in our own lives, at home, work or as motorists.

"For this reason, Forum for the Future is very supportive of what BP is doing through targetneutral. The scheme should help raise awareness of the links between driving and climate change. Helping everyone get more 'carbon literate' is something all oil companies will need to commit to in the very near future."

Five projects will initially benefit from the scheme, including two in India - a biomass energy plant and a wind farm.

Money will also go towards an animal waste management and methane capture programme in Mexico.

The BP scheme is the latest in a string of carbon-offset projects to be launched in Britain but the first by a major oil company. BP will pay for setting up the company and its running costs.

- Independent