BP BP Plc

By Dieter Holger

BP PLC said Friday that it has agreed to draft a shareholder resolution to be voted on next year that would enshrine its pledge to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.

The British energy company said the resolution would address BP's overall greenhouse-gas emissions from its operations to the products it buys and sells and lay out how it would boost investment in clean energy.

"Listening and engaging with stakeholders has been an essential part of defining our net-zero ambition and aims," Chief Executive Bernard Looney said in prepared remarks.

In February, the company became a rare example of an oil-and-gas major pledging to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 in line with the Paris Agreement, but was scant on details. It said Friday it would provide more information at its upcoming capital markets day in September and work on a possible resolution would follow.

BP said it would work on the shareholder proposal with Follow This, a group of investors in oil-and-gas companies that push oil majors to fall in line with the Paris Agreement. In response, Follow This said it has withdrawn its climate change resolution that would've been voted on this year by BP's shareholders.

"We believe that this goal will require a radical shift in BP's spending away from fossil fuels to renewables," said Mark van Baal, founder of Follow This. "We thank the investors that voted for our climate resolution that encouraged this step in 2019."

Write to Dieter Holger at dieter.holger@wsj.com; @dieterholger

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 27, 2020 08:04 ET (12:04 GMT)

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