BP has promised to be more open about its impact on climate change after 98% of shareholders backed a resolution calling for greater transparency at the fossil fuel group.

The company committed to publishing more information on a range of issues, including whether the value of its oil and gas reserves will be damaged by limits on carbon emissions; its investments in low-carbon technology; the scale of carbon dioxide emissions from its operations; the linking of executive pay to greenhouse gas reduction; and its lobbying on climate change.

The resolution supported by the BP board came at the end of a three-hour meeting dominated by a subject that has been largely ignored at such investor gatherings. In a break with convention for oil industry AGMs, Carl-Henric Svanberg, BP’s chairman, devoted the bulk of his opening speech at his group’s AGM to an issue that has historically been consigned to the margins.

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But while the company’s board promised to be more transparent about the risks posed by the business, BP made clear it would not be providing targets to curb its own greenhouse gas output. “We will focus on emissions, but we are not yet ready to set targets ... it’s not that we are not willing. It is just that it could be counter-productive,” said Svanberg. He insisted that BP was helping the world with its transition to a lower carbon economy, partly through its growing commitment to gas over oil.



BP was also campaigning for a global carbon price, putting a higher emphasis on energy efficiency and supported continuing subsidies for renewable energy. “We are taking action on all these areas,” Svanberg said.



Bill McGrew, portfolio manager at the California Public Employees Retirement System, a major BP investor and sponsor of the resolution, applauded the directors for supporting the resolution. “BP’s decision to support and recommend the shareholder approval for Resolution 25 is the example for companies to follow.”

Later, when asked about pressure from campaigners to divest from fossil fuel companies, which includes the Guardian’s Keep it in the Ground campaign, Svanberg said the approach was wrong-headed. “I think in general, engagement is a much better way forward than to try to exclude people [investors] from your activities.



“I think it is a fundamental wrong belief that we can steer towards a better future by stopping using fossil fuels. If we don’t produce what society demands, we will just end up with shortages.” He went on to argue that it was up to governments and politicians to find ways to tackle these issues.

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BP was also challenged on its commitment to investing in renewables and about revelations in the Guardian that much research work had been locked away in its own archives. Svanberg insisted that the retreat out of renewable energy, including the sale of the BP Solar business, had been partly forced on it by the “stressed financial situation” resulting from the Deepwater Horizon accident in the US Gulf of Mexico. “After Macondo, we had to make choices. That is why we sold solar, [even though] it was dear to us.” Other renewable commitments were wound down because governments did not come up with the carbon price needed to support them, he argued.

Svanberg denied that BP was keeping scientific information hidden away in an archive at Warwick University, saying it was open to everyone. “Nothing is locked away. We share everything happily.”

Bob Dudley, BP’s chief executive, said the company’s role was to provide for growing energy demand in as clean a way as possible. “We can offer people energy security and sustainability and can offer shareholders enduring value for many decades to come.”

The company had been served with a resolution from shareholders to disclose more about the risks and opportunities surrounding climate change. The shareholder resolution was passed with 98% of the vote, but there were also a number of shareholders who stood up and criticised the company over its involvement in tar sands, in Russia, and continuing problems in the Gulf of Mexico.

Derrick Evans, a US Gulf resident, told the AGM that a “secret sauce” of clean-up detergents had left hundreds suffering from growing health problems that were not being addressed by BP’s compensation payments.

BP said all the clean-up fluids it had used were agreed by the American regulators and it said it had spent billions helping clean up beaches and help local communities with health and other issues.