BP chairman-elect keen to keep green issues at heart of agenda

By Ed Crooks and Andrew Parker

Published: June 26 2009 03:00

Environmental concerns would remain a central issue for BP, the oil group's chairman-designate signalled yesterday with a warning that the world needed to adapt to avoid strain on resources.
Carl-Henric Svanberg, chief executive of Swedish telecommunications equipment maker Ericsson, told the Financial Times that the pace of growth of car ownership and air travel was unsustainable.
"With a normal growth rate, the world's [gross domestic product] will triple by 2050, and we will probably see another 2bn people in the world," he said. "If we continue to do things in the world in the same way as we do today, it will not be so easy for this planet to cope with that. So we have to find more intelligent solutions, and the energy industry is in the centre of that."
BP has been criticised by green campaigners for failing to live up to its "beyond petroleum" slogan, but takes a more active position than many oil companies.
BP surprised investors with the appointment of Mr Svanberg, who has no experience in the industry. However, leading shareholders contacted by the Financial Times yesterday raised no fundamental concerns.
The previous front-runner, Paul Skinner, the former chairman of mining group Rio Tinto, was forced to drop out after protests from shareholders angered by his support for Rio's now abandoned deal with Chinalco.
Mr Svanberg would join the BP board as a non-executive director and chairman-designate on September 1 before taking up his role fully on January 1 next year, the company said.
He replaces Peter Sutherland, chairman since 1997, who has led BP during a period of spectacular growth.
Separately, Ericsson said it had appointed Hans Vestberg, chief financial officer, to replace Mr Svanberg as chief executive.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009