Identify, citing sources of evidence, the three most important negative environmental impacts for which your company’s business activities are responsible.

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3 Jun 2022 Homework Help

Identify, citing sources of evidence, the three most important negative environmental impacts for which your company’s business activities are responsible.

Assignment 1

Name of Focus Company:

British petroleum

URL of company Sustainability Report:

BP will aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in its operations and grow low carbon businesses. We will advocate for rapid progress towards Paris and will listen to others. We believe that being an energy company that is trusted by society and valued by shareholders is a purpose-driven business. (2022)

Company Overview (approx. 200 words)

Introduce your company including key financial data, its key stakeholders, its sector, its key business areas and its main competitors

British petroleum is a British multinational oil and gas company, which was found in 1909 (BP – Wikipedia, 2022). In April 2021, Bp was known as the seventh largest oil and gas company which was based on a market cap (BP – Wikipedia, 2022). In 2020 due to coronavirus the pandemic oil demands have been declined from around 180.4 billion U.S. dollars. Bps key financial data are that they have had a revenue of 180.4billion USD, there net loss has been -20.3 billion USD and lastly their earnings before interest and taxes is -21.7 billion USD (Topic: BP plc, 2022). There are five key stake holders for Bps, they are State Street, BlackRock, Dimensional, Fund Advisors, Fisher Investments, and Menora Mivtachim (The Top 5 British Petroleum (BP) Shareholders, 2022). Bp is a multinational oil and gas company they have their headquarters all around London England (2022). British petroleum has been growing new energy businesses that will help them and transfer their core business in their upstream, downstream and alternative energy (2022). There five main business focuses are: Advanced mobility, Bio and low carbon products, Carbon management, Digital transformation and power and storage (2022). British petroleum main competitors are China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, Exxon Mobil, Shell and Total Energies. (2022)

Environmental Impact Analysis (approx. 800 words including summary table)

Identify, citing sources of evidence, the three most important negative environmental impacts for which your company’s business activities are responsible. In each case relate these impacts to relevant sustainability challenges using the Nine Planetary Boundaries Framework.

Include in your discussion appropriate concepts and frameworks to support your analysis. At a minimum you must show an application of (1) the Nine Planetary Boundaries framework (2) systems concepts/perspectives (3) the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Complete the table below to summarise (bullet points only) your environmental impact analysis

Summary table – have this at the top of your analysis

Business Activity(ies) that generate the impact(s) on the right	Negative Environmental Impact(s)	Relevant Sustainability Challenge(s) (using Nine Planetary Boundaries Framework)	Relevant UN Sustainable Development Goal (s) (Mainly 6, 12- 15)
Use of Oil and gas	Pollution	Climate change	SDG 13 + 14
Oil spillage	Sea damages	Ocean acidification	SDG 12
Oil industry	Oil refineries	Global warming	SDG 12 + 14

British petroleum poses a major threat to the environment (2022). As a result, pollution is regarded as the most dangerous and widespread consequence of their activities (2022). Pollution is associated with the various activities conducted in the oil and gas industry. These include drilling, refining, and the waste generated by these activities.

BP has acquired a 30% stake in GBF, which is the UK’s largest producer of high-quality hydrogenated vegetable oil (2022). The company’s products are made from renewable sources such as fat, vegetable oils, and animal fats (2022). BP’s investment in GBF will support the company’s growth as it helps businesses transition away from traditional diesel fuel. It also helps customers reduce their carbon footprint. (2022) HFO-compatible diesel engines can save up to 87% on greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality by up to 30%. In-field and controlled tests have also shown that it can reduce particulates and nitrogen oxides emissions by up to 85%. (2022)

The oil and gas industry’s various activities can also contribute to the depletion of the ecosystems, and they may also contribute to the global warming. (2022). Most environmental impacts associated with the oil and gas industry have already been studied. When oil is recovered and transported, it goes through various refining processes in order to make it into products that are sold at commercial prices. As a result, oil refineries are big contributors to global warming (2022).

British petroleum has been working to improve their understanding of the way they would face a wide range of physical risks due to climate change and severe weather, and they have taken the necessary steps to improve their understanding of these risks and develop effective mitigation strategies (2022). We also regularly monitor and maintain our climate and severe weather modelling capabilities (2022).

British petroleum regularly assess their assets for severe weather risk. They also participate in various initiatives related to climate change and severe weather. (2022)

British petroleum would need to realise important it is that communities understand that they would need to take the necessary measures to minimize the environmental impacts of our fracking activities (2022). Along with the acquisition of shale assets in the US, Bpx energy has made significant strides in reducing its environmental impacts. They have focused on reducing water contamination and improving the efficiency of our fracking operations. As part of Bps operation, they have added various types of chemicals to the water and sand mixers that they would use for fracking (2022).

The hydraulic fracturing process produces small earth tremors. This is usually not felt by the surface. (2022). Bp try to minimize the risk of these by identifying their natural faults.

BP has acquired a 30% stake in Green Biofuels Ltd, a company that is focused on developing renewable hydrogen fuel. This investment will help expand bp’s global biofuels portfolio and help decarbonize various sectors. (2022)

British petroleum has caused a negative impact on the environment by how the Deepwater Horizon oil had exploded by that happening they had killed around 11 workers and leaking around 4.9 million barrels of oil. This has cost them around $55 billion including a $20 billion fine to the US government (Photograph Win McNamee, 2022). This has been one of the environmental fines in the US history. Eleven workers died, and more than a million seabirds, fish, and marine mammals drowned in the Gulf of Mexico after the BP oil rig disaster. Many species, such as spotted sea trout and deep-sea coral, are struggling to recover after the oil spill. (Photograph Win McNamee, 2022). The recovery of the Gulf’s inhabitants has been overshadowed by the damage caused by the disaster. Although scientists are still trying to determine the effects of the oil spill on various marine species, such as sea turtles and dolphins, they say it doesn’t look good for them. (Photograph Win McNamee, 2022). Even if you were a marine mammal alive at the time of the disaster, it doesn’t look good for you, says Cynthia Smith, a veterinarian.

BP’s business model is clearly unsustainable. It is estimated that we can only burn 33% of our oil reserves without causing global temperatures to go beyond 2 degrees Celsius. Despite this, the company still plans to expand its oil extraction activities, which are contributing to climate change. (2022)

BP’s US refining strategy is focused on operating refineries with the necessary infrastructure to increase production and fuel efficiency (2022). In 2020, BP’s Whiting refinery in the US will start a new hydrotreating unit that will reduce the sulphur in its fuels. The company’s bp-Husky refinery in the US also underwent a major maintenance turnaround to improve its reliability. (2022). Over the past decade, BP has made significant investments in its US refineries, including the expansion of its Cherry Point facility. (2022)

Reference list (not in the wordcount)

Add references below for all sources cited, using the Harvard standard (see Cite Them Right website for assistance, via the module Moodle site)

En.wikipedia.org. 2022. BP – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BP> [Accessed 15 February 2022].

Statista. 2022. Topic: BP plc. [online] Available at: <https://www.statista.com/topics/1967/bp-plc/#dossierKeyfigures> [Accessed 17 February 2022].

Investopedia. 2022. The Top 5 British Petroleum (BP) Shareholders. [online] Available at: <https://www.investopedia.com/articles/insights/062016/top-5-british-petroleum-shareholders-bp.asp> [Accessed 17 February 2022].

2022. [online] Available at: <https://www.bp.com/en/global/bp-ventures/about/our-focus.html> [Accessed 27 February 2022].

2022. [online] Available at: <https://www.globaldata.com/company-profile/bp-plc/competitors/> [Accessed 19 February 2022].

Eolss.net. 2022. [online] Available at: <https://www.eolss.net/sample-chapters/c08/e6-185-18.pdf> [Accessed 20 February 2022].

2022. [online] Available at: <https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/news-and-insights/press-releases/bp-acquires-30-per-cent-stake-in-the-uks-largest-provide-of-low-emission-hydrogenated-vegetable-oil-fuels.html> [Accessed 21 February 2022].

Photograph Win McNamee, G., 2022. Ten years later, BP oil spill continues to harm wildlife—especially dolphins. [online] Api.nationalgeographic.com. Available at: <https://api.nationalgeographic.com/distribution/public/amp/animals/article/how-is-wildlife-doing-now–ten-years-after-the-deepwater-horizon> [Accessed 23 February 2022].

2022. [online] Available at: <https://www.bp.com/en_us/united-states/home/who-we-are/what-we-do/refining.html> [Accessed 26 February 2022].

2022. [online] Available at: <https://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/business-sites/en/global/corporate/pdfs/sustainability/group-reports/bp-sustainability-report-2020.pdf> [Accessed 27 February 2022].