No matter what their PR folks say, it’s basically impossible for an oil company to “go green”. Oil companies have jumped on the green bandwagon along with seemingly everyone else this past year, promoting their investments in renewable energy and claiming that they are really at the forefront of next-generation energy technology.

According to The Guardian’s Terry Macalister:

“Shell and BP are among the biggest producers of greenhouse gases in the world, but both have been keen to paint themselves green through a series of clean fuel initiatives.

BP, under its former chief executive, John Browne, promised to go “beyond petroleum” while Shell has spent millions advertising its serious interest in the future of the environment.”

I actually remember someone once saying to me, “But isn’t BP more environmentally friendly than the other oil companies?”

This would be a fair assumption from anyone viewing BP’s marketing materials. It would be easy to mistake the official BP Web site for an environmental non-profit. The color scheme is green and yellow and there is a whole section called “environment and society.”
More from Macalister:

“BP has been accused by Greenpeace Canada of lining itself up to help commit ‘the biggest environmental crime in history’. This follows its decision to swap assets with Husky Oil, giving it an entrance ticket to the Alberta tar sands, which are said to be five times more energy-intensive to extract compared to traditional oil.”

That sounds less like “beyond petroleum” and more like “big pollution”.

On a related note, George Monbiot argues for why we need to stop using fossil fuels instead of only relying on the development of renewable energy.