While Lord Browne, the former Group Chief Executive of BP, might have retired recently under cloud surrounding his private life and boyfriend, his contribution to the war against climate change should not be forgotten. Ten years ago he broke ranks with a cabal of oil companies that, according to social commentator Rob Hopkins, “worked together to derail the climate negotiations”.

Six months prior to the Kyoto conference on climate change in 1997, Lord Browne gave a landmark speech in which he observed, “The time to consider the policy dimensions of climate change is not when the link between greenhouse gases and climate change is conclusively proven but when the possibility cannot be discounted. We in BP have reached that point.”