BP has said it will reduce its carbon footprint to net zero by 2050 or sooner.

The company will need to remove more than 400m tonnes of carbon emissions a year from its oil and gas businesses through tree-planting and carbon capture technologies.

Launching the initiative, BP stated: “These are absolute reductions, to net zero, which is what the world needs most of all.”

The company set out a 10-point plan to achieve net zero incorporating its operations, oil and gas upstream production, halving carbon intensity of its products and reducing methane at major oil and gas processing sites. BP also committed to stop corporate reputation advertising and ‘redirect resources to active advocacy for progressive climate policies’ as well as to incentivise employees and become a recognised leader for transparency with a team dedicated to helping countries, cities and corporations around the world decarbonise.

Chief Executive Bernard Looney stated: “The direction is set. We are heading for net zero. There is no turning back.”

Read the company’s statement.