BP’s True Colors: Not Exactly Green

Over the last few years, BP, the petroleum company formerly known as British Petroleum, has been in a mad rush to re-brand themselves, launching the disingenuous “Beyond Petroleum” campaign and making big statements about “alternative energy” – which, in their very generous definition, includes natural gas. They even change the color of all their stations to, you guessed it, green. With the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, BP is finally showing its true colors, and they’re not very verdant.

In March, Drea Knufken of businesspundit.com ripped BP a new one in her deft review of the Top 25 Greenwashed Products in America. Highlighting greenwashing in the petroleum industry, she tore into BP and their green flower logo as exhibit number 1: “The only thing green about BP is their BS.”

Knufken also noted that in spite of BP’s renewable rhetoric, the oil giant has been pulling out of renewable energy efforts, rather than ramping up as their marketing would indicate. The company reported profits of $5.6 billion in the first quarter of 2010 alone, yet their total annual budget for renewable energy is less than $1 million. This follows last year’s closure of BP’s renewable energy headquarters and the resignation of its clean energy boss. Then, just days before the Deepwater Horizon explosion, BP essentially ignored a shareholder revolt over the company’s environmentally devastating foray into Canada’s tar sands.

Knufken’s March criticism looks all the more prescient in light of the current oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. I’ll give BP credit for its response to the oil spill: the company is stepping up to clean their mess. Responsible? Time will tell. Environmentally responsible? Not a chance.

Let’s hope the “oilwashing” – oil began washing ashore today in Lousiana’s Chandeleur islands – will finally put the lie to BP’s “Beyond Petroleum” greenwashing campaign. Beyond petroleum? More like big petroleum. And big mess.