BP has appointed a successor to its embattled chair, Helge Lund, as the company breaks from its net zero strategy and pivots back to fossil fuels.<\/p>\n
Albert Manifold, the former boss of the building material company CRH<\/a>, will join the BP board on 1 September as a non-executive director and as chair-elect, before taking over on 1 October.<\/p>\n Lund, chair since 2019 and an important figure in the company\u2019s abandoned green push, announced in April he would step down from his position<\/a> \u201cmost likely during 2026\u201d. Lund also suffered an investor rebellion<\/a> at BP\u2019s annual meeting amid pressure over its poorly performing share price.<\/p>\n The incoming BP chair, Albert Manifold. Photograph: Niall Carson\/PA<\/p>\n The change in chair comesamid a broader strategic shift at BP, as it cuts back on green spending and returns its focus to oil, after a botched attempt to reinvent itself as a net zero energy company.<\/p>\n Manifold was chief executive of CRH for a decade until the end of last year, and led the shift in the company\u2019s primary listing from London to New York in 2023.<\/p>\n The chief executive of BP, Murray Auchincloss, said<\/a> last year that switching BP\u2019s listing to the US was \u201cnot on the agenda\u201d. BP shares have lagged behind its US peers, while a string of British firms have switched their primary listings from London to New York<\/a>.<\/p>\n Amanda Blanc, the senior independent director at BP who led the process to find a new chair, said Manifold had \u201ctransformed and refocused CRH into a global leader\u201d and praised \u201chis impressive track record of shareholder value creation\u201d.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Business Today<\/p>\n Get set for the working day \u2013 we’ll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n The outgoing BP chair, Helge Lund. Photograph: Bloomberg\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Manifold, who received a $13m (\u00a39.6m) package for his work at CRH last year, called it \u201can honour to be appointed chair of one of the world\u2019s great energy companies, and to have the opportunity to help the company reach its full potential\u201d.<\/p>\n BP\u2019s green strategy was set by its previous boss, Bernard Looney, who was appointed by Lund in 2020 to transform the business into an integrated energy company. However, the transition was undermined by a rise in global oil and gas prices, as well as the shock departure of Looney in 2023<\/a>.<\/p>\n Auchincloss set out a \u201cfundamental reset\u201d<\/a> this year after the activist hedge fund Elliott Management amassed a multibillion-pound stake in the company amid growing investor dissatisfaction over its sluggish share price.<\/p>\n BP has been rapidly scaling back its green portfolio. Last week, it agreed to sell its onshore wind business in the US<\/a>, as part of a plan to offload $20bn in assets to \u201csimplify and focus the business\u201d.<\/p>\n