Carbon neutrality – Castrol Carbon Neutral products
Statement to customers
Since launching the first Carbon Neutral engine oil in 2014, Castrol has maintained a portion of its product portfolio as Carbon Neutral in accordance with the BSI PAS 2060 standard (‘Carbon Neutral’). Over the past eleven years, the scope and geographic coverage of the Carbon Neutral portfolio has adapted to shifts in customer demand, peaking in 2023 when ~33% of Castrol's offerings were Carbon Neutral. Over the programme's duration, Castrol has procured and retired over eight million carbon credits to offset greenhouse gas emissions linked to the lubricant life cycle. Castrol’s Carbon Neutral programme, including the cost of “offsets”, helped accelerate the development and execution of carbon reduction strategies.
In response to the evolving environment, particularly concerning the use of carbon credits to support Carbon Neutrality claims for consumers and customers, Castrol began to reduce its Carbon Neutral portfolio, in 2024. Resources previously allocated to this portfolio have been redirected towards programs and practices aimed at decreasing the carbon intensity of its products within its value chain and operations.
Castrol will discontinue its Carbon Neutral programme from December 2025, as BSI retire their Carbon Neutral standard PAS 20601. While continuing to consider credit-backed initiatives for interested customers and exploring the applicability of ISO 14068 for select markets like Japan, Castrol will focus primarily on reducing carbon emissions within the lubricant value chain and improving circularity. Castrol has applied learnings from its Carbon Neutral programme to the rest of its products and now calculates the carbon footprint of each of its products annually, using the insights to identify potential carbon reduction initiatives.
Castrol®, a bp brand, blends and markets Castrol lubricant products made from hydrocarbons. The global scientific community has reached consensus that emission of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and other gases from the use of hydrocarbons, including the combustion of fossil fuels, is a contributor to global warming causing what is commonly referred to as climate change. Castrol acknowledges this scientific consensus but also recognizes the role that lubricants play in supporting efficient motion. When you use a carbon neutral lubricant in your vehicle or machine, some CO₂ will be emitted into the atmosphere through its lifecycle – for example, from production or as losses in use or end of life treatment or disposal.
2025 (1H) Carbon Neutral achievement (Latest published declaration)
“Carbon neutrality of the products in scope achieved by Castrol in accordance with PAS 2060 at 30th June 2025, DNV certified”– Castrol’s Carbon Neutrality Declaration as documented in its PAS 2060 Qualifying Explanatory Statement - Castrol Carbon Neutral Products.
Castrol has achieved carbon neutrality via a combination of carbon offsets (credits) and GHG emissions reductions. For the year 2021, Castrol relied on 100% offsets to meet the requirements of carbon neutral achievement and to compensate for the carbon emissions in its baseline period – this is in accordance with the provisions of PAS 2060. Carbon emission reduction activities were nonetheless in action and the impact of these actions are now visible in the 2022 – 2024 reassessments of the carbon footprint of carbon neutral products. Some examples of these activities are included in Section 5.3 of the Qualifying Explanatory Statement that also resides under the DOCUMENTATION AND VERIFICATION section below. Table 6.1 of the Qualifying Explanatory Statement lists the projects from which carbon credits were retired for achievement of product carbon neutrality in 2025.
2025 Carbon Neutral portfolio
- Global Marine and Energy: BIOBAR, BIOSTAT and BIOTAC brands (Marine sector) and BRAYCO and TRANSAQUA brands (Energy sector)
- Industrial: OPTIGEAR, ALUSOL XBB, HYSOL XBB and TECHNICLEAN XBC in Europe and Japan only
- Automotive PROFESSIONAL range in Japan only
- All products sold to Toyota in AsPac
With the withdrawal of the PAS 2060 standard at the end of 2025, these products have been assured as Carbon Neutral for the period of January to June to allow time for assurance to complete.
Carbon Neutral products in accordance with PAS 2060
PAS 2060 specifies a four-stage process to demonstrate carbon neutrality which includes:
- Assessment of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions based on accurate measurement data
- Reduction of emissions through a target-driven carbon management plan
- Offsetting of residual emissions, often by purchasing carbon credits
- Documentation and verification through qualifying explanatory statements and public disclosure
Castrol’s application of PAS 2060 involves two independent third parties; Environmental Resources Management Limited who carry out the carbon footprinting of Castrol products and a second, DNV Business Assurances UK Limited who do the verification and assurance of carbon neutrality.
Assessment
Castrol assesses, identifies, and measures CO₂ emissions throughout each product’s life cycle. The figure below is derived from the GHG protocol’s product life cycle accounting and reporting standard and demonstrates the key activities that make up a product’s life cycle.
To quantify the GHG life-cycle emissions of the product, primary activity data (process-specific data obtained by direct measurement of the energy or business activities) and secondary data (data obtained from sources other than direct measurement of the emissions from processes included in the life cycle of the products) is collected for each activity and used in conjunction with emissions factors (coefficients) to convert activity data into GHG emissions.
Table 3.2 of the QES provides a description of each lifecycle stage shown above and the key inclusions and exclusions used to quantify GHG emissions have been summarized below:
| Lifecycle Stage | Inclusions | Exclusions |
|---|---|---|
| Material acquisition & pre-processing | Raw material extraction and processing to produce components (e.g., base oils and additives) and packaging. | Capital goods and infrastructure (i.e., manufacture and maintenance of machinery and buildings). Personnel activities (e.g., commuting to and from work). Storage at distribution warehouse. |
| Production | Blending of components (base oils and additives) and filling into product packaging (plastic bottles, steel drums, Intermediate Bulk Containers (IBCs), etc.). | |
| Distribution and storage | Distribution of packed products from Castrol blending sites to customers (e.g., dealerships and retailers). | |
| Use | Filling of product (e.g., vehicles, equipment, and machinery). Leakage of product during use. Where applicable, combustion of product during use. |
Draining of product from product application system as this is a manual operation. Beneficial greenhouse gas emission impacts of the product in use (e.g., fuel savings from reduced friction, raw material saved due to durability/extended drain, etc.) |
| End-of-life | Transportation of used product to a waste management facility. Used product incineration with and without energy recovery, landfill, or re-refining, where only incineration without energy recovery and landfill have GHG emissions impacts within the Castrol boundary. Treatment of waste packaging to recycling, incineration with energy recovery, incineration without energy recovery or landfill. |
In line with the recycled content method (Chapter 9 of the GHG Product Protocol), the following processes are not included in the boundary of this life cycle stage: Processes that transform waste to a useful material in another process (e.g., re-refining of used oil and recycling of plastic). |
Reduction
Castrol’s carbon management plan is a global program encompassing activities across Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions in support of its aim to continue to reduce the carbon intensity of its products and offer. Castrol’s carbon reduction activities are not limited to its carbon neutral portfolio, but the impact of its carbon reduction activities is assessed in relation to both the carbon neutral portfolio and the overall carbon footprint (Scope 1,2 and 3 emissions). Castrol’s carbon reduction plan includes activities across each lifecycle stage, but its key focus areas (beyond its Scope 1 and 2 emissions) are its raw material purchases and what happens to products at the end of their use, working to transform the lifecycle of lubricants from linear to more circular.
Offsetting
Castrol purchases and retires (destroys) carbon credits, from carbon reduction projects, to offset residual product carbon emissions.
Castrol has purchased its offset credits from a portfolio of projects provided by bp Low Carbon Trading. All carbon credits used have been subject to due diligence checks on environmental and social integrity by the bp Low Carbon Trading team and are from projects that meet recognized industry standards from international offset registries, including the UN CDM and the Verified Carbon Standard. After purchase, sufficient carbon credits are retired (destroyed) to balance the emissions associated with the Carbon Neutral claim. See bp Low Carbon Trading for more details.
Table 6.1, extracted from PAS 2060 Qualifying Explanatory Statement - Castrol Carbon Neutral Products, contains the list of carbon credits retired in relation to the achievement period and more information about the projects they are from. Since the inception of its Carbon Neutral program in 2014, Castrol has offset (through the purchase and retirement of carbon credits) more than 8 million tons of GHG emissions.
Documentation and verification
The Qualifying Explanatory Statement (QES) is a requirement of PAS 2060 and demonstrates that (and how) Castrol has achieved carbon neutrality for its Carbon Neutral Products.
PAS 2060 Qualifying Explanatory Statements
The QES is being provided in English only, because this version was assured by DNV. Translated versions are not assured.
Carbon neutrality - Castrol’s operational activities
Castrol’s PATH360 Programme also includes making its scope 1 and 2 GHG emissionsi from its operations Carbon Neutral in accordance with PAS 2060.
Consistent with its approach for Carbon Neutral products, Castrol’s application of PAS 2060 for Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions involves two external independent third parties; Environmental Resources Management Limited who carry out the carbon footprinting of Castrol’s operational activities and a second, DNV Business Assurances UK Limited, who do the verification and assurance of carbon neutrality.
Assessment
Castrol uses the GHG Protocol’s Corporate Standard to assess its Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions.
- Scope 1 emissions are the direct emissions from sources owned or controlled by Castrol. Scope 1 includes on-site fossil fuel combustion and fleet fuel consumption.
- Scope 2 emissions are the indirect emissions that result from the generation of electricity, heat or steam purchased by Castrol from a utility provider.
Reduction
Castrol is targeting a 50% reduction in its Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 2025 vs. its 2019 baseline and has delivered a 42% reduction through 2024. Castrol is committed to continuing its carbon reduction efforts as demonstrated in its carbon management planii. The 3 main pillars of Castrol’s Scope 1 and 2 carbon management plan include operational efficiency, transitioning to renewable energy, and replacing carbon-intensive energy sources with cleaner, lower carbon alternatives.
Offsetting
See above offsetting section for details of how Castrol purchases and retires carbon credits to achieve carbon neutrality.
Table 6.1 - Scope 1 and 2, extracted from PAS 2060 Qualifying Explanatory Statement - Castrol Carbon Neutral Scope 1 and 2, contains the list of offset credits retired in relation to the period in scope and more information about the projects they are from.
Documentation and verification
“Carbon neutrality of Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions achieved by Castrol in accordance with PAS 2060:2014 at 31st December 2024, DNV certified”
The QES is being provided in English only, because this version was assured by DNV. Translated versions are not assured.