BP's Carbon Emissions Rise for the First Time

BP said on Friday its overall carbon emissions climbed in 2023 for the first time since 2019 as the company started up new oil and gas projects and increased its production levels.

BP's so-called Scope 3 emissions, caused by the burning of the oil and gas produced by the company, increased to 315 million metric tons last year, from 307 million tons in 2022, due to higher production of those fossil fuels.

Direct and indirect emissions from BP's operations, respectively known as Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, also rose last year to 32.1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, up 0.6% from 31.9 million tons in 2022, its annual report showed.

The overall increase in operational emissions was due to "temporary production-related changes", project start-ups including in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea, and BP's acquisitions of Archaea Energy and TravelCenters of America.

BP aims to reduce its Scope 3 emissions by 10% to 15% by 2025 and 20% to 30% by 2030 from a 2019 baseline. They have so far decreased by 13% over the period.

BP aims to reduce operational emissions from 2019 levels by 20% by 2025 and by 50% by 2030. The emissions fell by over 40% between 2019 and 2023.

Climate change is caused mostly by burning oil, gas, and coal, and is driving more extreme heat waves, droughts, storms, and sea-level rise.

BP also reported a 10% rise in its methane emissions to 31,000 tons in 2023 from 28,000 tons in 2022, due primarily to increased flaring in its Azerbaijan-Georgia-Türkiye region and Tangguh operations.

Methane is a greenhouse gas that's more than 28 times as potent as carbon dioxide at trapping heat, but its lifetime in the atmosphere is much shorter.

(Reuters - Reporting by Ron Bousso and Deep Vakil; Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Mark Potter)