Social investment
We make targeted social investments that contribute to sustainable development. These support our community engagement and align with specific local needs
Generally, we focus on economic development, education, environmental programmes and engagement with culture and the arts. In 2019 our social investments included funding from BP Angola for the Halo Trust, which trains local women as ‘deminers’ to help find and clear landmines. Thanks to this investment, the Halo Trust has employed 31 new staff as it works to help the government reach its target of making Angola landmine free by 2025. Another example of the investments made in 2019 is bp South Africa’s partnership with the National Empowerment Fund to create an enterprise development fund that provides funding, mentoring and business development coaching for those working in our dealer network, with a particular focus on helping black women.
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Improving access to energy can help people build better lives for themselves. In India, we’re working with the Clean Energy Access Network (CLEAN) to give local people the skills required to work in the energy generation sector, which has the potential to bring clean energy, such as solar, to people in rural areas. As this sector grows in India, these skills will be critical in ensuring the long-term efficiency of power generation equipment. Providing this training can also play a key role in mitigating rural-to-urban migration which is a problem in many rural communities.
Community commitments by region in 2019
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bp foundation
The bp foundation provides money for humanitarian relief activities around the world. It also matches personal contributions from bp employees that are made to eligible charities of their choice.
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- $9.1 million in employee contributions that the bp foundation supplemented with grants of $8.3 million.
- $358,000 contributed to local communities affected by extreme events, including:
- $150,000 to support International Red Cross relief efforts in Mozambique and Zimbabwe after cyclone Idai.
- $100,000 to the Australian Red Cross to support disaster relief efforts following the Australian bush fires.?
Supporting a ‘just transition’
We’re participating in the wider global?conversation around climate change and the?energy transition. For example, bp employees?have taken part in Vatican Dialogues on this?topic and we’ve engaged with external groups?to improve our understanding of the issues?involved in a just transition. We believe our?engagement and investments in local?communities where we work can help make?sure that they benefit from a just transition to a?lower carbon future. This is the case for a?number of our initiatives, including our access?to energy projects in Indonesia and in Angola.