We do not want to put money in the coffers of a company that persistently pours cash into speeding up polar meltdown rather than kick-starting a solar revolution. Our campaign continues and we will do everything we can to make sure this Arctic oil stays in the ground where it belongs. The Arctic is on the front-line of global warming by the burning of fossil fuels. The western Arctic is already warming three to five times than the global average. An area of Arctic sea ice the size of Texas has disappeared in the last 20 years.
Marine mammals are under threat as the ice pack on which they hunt and breed melts away.
The company has also aggressively promoted its solar division as proof of its green credentials but will actually be spending over 50 times more on oil exploration and production than on clean, renewable energy. Thirteen billion dollars' worth of shares voted for the resolution and against the Board of Directors. Today's non-violent direct action follows years of campaigning by Greenpeace to halt BP's Northstar oil development project. Greenpeace maintained a camp on the frozen Arctic Ocean for two months this past winter to protest against Northstar construction. Lawsuits are pending in US federal and Alaska State courts, challenging the project on a number of significant issues including water use, oil spills and cumulative impact of offshore oil on the climate and ecology of the Alaskan Arctic.