Speech by Chief Executive

BP PLC
12 March 2002



March 11, 2002



BP BEATS GREENHOUSE GAS TARGET BY EIGHT YEARS AND AIMS TO 
STABILISE NET FUTURE EMISSIONS

BP today announced that it has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by over nine
million tonnes eight years ahead of target, and said it will peg net future
emissions at this new, lower level despite plans to grow its oil and gas
production by 5.5 per cent a year.

Chief executive Lord Browne said that BP's pledge, made four years ago, to cut
emissions from its own operations by ten per cent from 1990 levels by 2010 had
already been achieved - and at no net cost to the company.

Speaking at Stanford University, in California, Browne said BP's target now was
to contain net emissions at current levels through the next decade. This would
be done partly through a mix of internal actions, principally the more efficient
use of energy across the company's operations.

It would also entail the use of carbon credits resulting from the company's
accelerated shift to natural gas and other lower-carbon products, as well as
cleaner transport fuels and lubricants essential to the development of
lower-emission engines.

BP plans to grow its oil and gas output by some 5.5 per cent annually to 2005,
with further increases beyond that, and to expand its volume of refined
products. 'On that basis, if we take no further action, the emissions from our
operations will increase by something like 50 million tonnes - from 80 million
tonnes now to 130 million tonnes by 2012,' Browne said.

'How then can we contribute to the objective of stabilisation? There are two
principal ways. First, through efficiency - improving the productivity of the
energy we use and doing everything we can internally to reduce our emissions per
unit of production.

'By applying existing knowledge across the span of our operations, and selective
new capital investment in areas such as co-generation, we believe we can achieve
a 10-12 per cent improvement in the efficiency of our energy use. In total, we
think we can deliver around half the reductions necessary to sustain our
internal emissions at 10 per cent below 1990 levels through efficiency gains.'

Delivering the remaining half depends significantly on a continued reduction in
the carbon content of the products BP makes and sells, including natural gas in
its various forms which represents over 40 per cent of the company's production
and will increasingly substitute for higher-carbon fuels in emerging economies
such as China.

'We will offer refined products that are designed to enable improved efficiency,
or greater emissions reductions, to occur when they are used by others,' Browne
said. 'For example, we believe that if every car driver in Europe used the best
lubricant we have available today, CO2 emissions would fall by 30 million tonnes
a year.

'We'll continue to improve the quality of our refined products. Within the next
three years 50 per cent of our pump sales worldwide will be clean fuels,
including zero-sulphur fuels, which we hope will help to catalyse the
development of more efficient engines,' Browne said.

'On an industry basis, by utilizing a systems approach combining advances in the
technology of fuels, lubricants and engines, a reduction of up to 400 million
tonnes of CO2 emissions by 2010 is conceivable.'

BP would continue to expand its solar business which is set to grow by 40 per
cent this year and already has a 17 per cent share of the world market. It was
also looking at other potential energy sources, including hydrogen, and at
carbon capture and geological storage.

Browne said that, while international frameworks for the various credit
mechanisms to offset greenhouse gas emissions were still being developed, 'I
feel more confident now that such systems will eventually be established. The
acceptance of the risk and of the potential for progress is reflected in all the
actions being taken by governments around the world.

'In the US, President Bush made an important statement four weeks ago about
reducing carbon intensity. That builds on previous statements on stabilisation
and opens new possibilities based on the fundamental American belief in
technology.'

Browne concluded: 'I believe the American people expect a company like BP - the
largest single supplier of oil and gas in this country - to offer answers and
not excuses. People expect successful companies to take on challenges, to apply
skills and technology and to give them better choices. Well, we are ready to do
our part - to reinvent the energy business, to stabilise our emissions - and, in
doing so, to make a contribution to the challenge facing the world.'




   The full text of Lord Browne's speech is available on www.bp.com/
centres/press/stanford



Further enquiries:



US
Sarah Howell:   [phone], cell:  [phone]



UK
Clare Bebbington:  [phone]



- ENDS -





                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange