As BP PLC (LSE:BP.) prepared for its capital markets day on Wednesday, campaigners took to the streets to pre-emptively accuse CEO Murray Auchincloss of a treacherous U-turn in abandoning its former pivot towards a greener energy mix.
The Canadian was widely expected to announce a reversal in the group's strategy at the investor day event, abandoning oil and gas production cuts planned by his predecessor.
The move follows pressure from activist hedge fund Elliott Management, which has built a 5% stake in BP.
Auchincloss, CEO for 13 months, has promised a "fundamental reset" but reportedly faces scepticism from investors and BP’s board.
On Wednesday, mobile billboards were being driven about London by investigative campaign group Global Witness, protesting against greenwashing by the oil giant and highlighting the climate pledge backtracking.
The billboards said the U-turn on climate commitments is a "masterclass in greenwashing" and that BP’s reset was a "corporate way of saying 'we’re breaking our climate pledges'."
In a statement, campaigner Alexander Kirk noted that BP undertook a massive public relations campaign in 2020, under presious boss Bernard Looney, to tell the world it was going green, highlighting its renewable energy investments.
"Now, while the world is reeling from fossil-fuel driven extreme weather, BP is widely expected to double down on the oil and gas creating climate breakdown.
"So why the U-turn? BP appears to be focusing on short-term profits to shareholders while energy prices are high, with the rest of the world picking up the tab from its climate-wrecking products. This is a company that cannot be trusted to deliver the clean energy transition.
"Fossil fuel companies like BP must be forced to pay for the climate damages they cause.”
The mobile billboards were temporarily parked outside BP’s headquarters, a BP petrol station, in Parliament Square and the Queen Elizabeth II Centre, with the capital markets update expected to start at 1 pm, with presentations from Auchincloss, chief financial officer Kate Thomson and other members of the leadership team.