BP slashed planned investment in renewable energy and said on Wednesday it would increase annual oil and gas spending to $10 billion, in a major strategy shift aimed at boosting earnings and investor confidence.

The energy giant said it would cut planned investment in clean energy and redirect spending toward fossil fuels.

Those include activist hedge fund Elliott Management, which recently took a stake in BP with a view to pushing for significant changes.“It’s a radical shift,” Chief Executive Murray Auchincloss said in an interview.

British energy company BP has confirmed it is to slash spending on green ventures and up its oil and gas production.

BP said it would increase its investments in oil and gas by about 20% to $10bn (£7.9bn) a year, while decreasing previously planned funding for renewables by more than $5bn (£3.9bn).

BP has abandoned a radical attempt to reinvent itself as a green energy company, bowing to pressure from investors after its aggressive shift away from fossil fuels over the past five years backfired.

BP said it still hopes to become a net-zero firm but will only spend up to £1.6bn a year on projects aimed at the energy transition, representing a significant cut.

BP has confirmed it will slash spending on net zero transition businesses by more than five billion US dollars (£3.95 billion) a year, and significantly ramp up its oil and gas operations. The fossil fuels giant said it is still targeting net zero operations but will only spend up to two billion dollars (£1.