{"id":33995,"date":"2017-05-31T20:38:34","date_gmt":"2017-05-31T19:38:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/?p=33995"},"modified":"2017-05-31T20:40:09","modified_gmt":"2017-05-31T19:40:09","slug":"exxon-shareholders-win-historic-vote-climate-transparency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2017\/05\/31\/exxon-shareholders-win-historic-vote-climate-transparency\/","title":{"rendered":"Exxon shareholders win ‘historic’ climate vote against board’s advice"},"content":{"rendered":"

The world’s largest private oil company is being forced to reckon with the clash between its business model and international climate goals, after a “historic” showdown\u00a0with investors.<\/strong><\/p>\n

At ExxonMobil’s AGM in Dallas, Texas on Wednesday, 62% of shareholders voted in favour of a climate change resolution, against the board’s advice, according to a\u00a0preliminary count. While detailed data is not yet available, the convincing majority suggests some major funds joined sustainable investment activists after\u00a0the same proposal won\u00a038% of the vote last year.<\/p>\n

Coming amid reports<\/a> president Donald Trump plans to withdraw the US from the Paris climate deal, it signalled that\u00a0concern about climate change is stronger than ever in financial circles.<\/p>\n

“Investors voting against management at Exxon is a powerful rebuke to the climate denialist policies of this White House,” said Raj Thamotheram, head of thinktank Preventable Surprises. “Markets are moving and corporate America would be foolish to bet so much on the protection from this regime.”<\/p>\n

The resolution requires Exxon to disclose how the international goal to hold global warming below 2C – as agreed in Paris – could dampen future demand for its oil and gas.<\/p>\n

Thinktank Carbon Tracker estimated<\/a> in 2015 that Exxon was planning to sink\u00a0$72 billion over the next decade into developing\u00a0fuel reserves that would be surplus to the requirements of a 2C world.<\/p>\n

Despite Trump’s apparent refusal to honour the Paris Agreement, advances in clean technology and policy action\u00a0elsewhere have convinced some other oil majors to start adjusting<\/a> their expectations.<\/p>\n

Weekly briefing:<\/strong>\u00a0Sign up for your essential climate news update<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

During the AGM, Exxon chief executive Darren Woods reiterated\u00a0his company’s support for the Paris Agreement and call for a revenue-neutral carbon tax to meet climate goals. But management opposed shareholder demands for more transparency, insisting none of Exxon’s reserves would be “stranded” in the global shift to clean energy.<\/p>\n

Woods promised to “step back and reflect” after the result was announced.<\/p>\n

The Church of England and New York State public pension fund, which led the shareholder rebellion, described\u00a0Wednesday’s victory as “historic” and “unprecedented”.<\/p>\n

Edward Mason, head of responsible investment for Church Commissioners, said in a statement: \u201cDespite strong opposition from the Board, the majority of Exxon\u2019s shareholders have sent an unequivocal signal to the company that it must do much more to disclose the impact on its business of measures to combat climate change.”<\/p>\n

“Climate change is one of the greatest long-term risks we face in our portfolio and has direct impact on the core business of ExxonMobil,” added New York State comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. “The burden is now on Exxon Mobil to respond swiftly and demonstrate that it takes shareholder concerns about climate risk seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

It piles the pressure on Exxon at the same time as it faces multiple lawsuits over allegations it deliberately cast doubt on the scientific consensus around climate change, even as its internal research confirmed it.<\/p>\n

Grassroots campaign network 350.org has consistently argued that engaging with Exxon is futile and shareholders should take their money elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cExxon\u2019s climate lies are finally catching up with them,” said Jamie Henn, strategic communications director at 350,\u00a0ahead of the vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny real climate risk assessment will show that Exxon\u2019s drill-baby-drill business plan is incompatible with a liveable planet. Despite shareholder protests, they\u2019re still doubling down on fossil fuels when the world is moving in the opposite direction. Exxon\u2019s refusal to adapt their business model to a carbon constrained world should send investors running for the exits.”<\/p>\n

But institutional investors like pension funds and insurance companies typically spread their money across all economic sectors and are unlikely to flee oil and gas in bulk.<\/p>\n

Instead, investors with an interest in sustainability see analysis of the 2C goal as a first step towards getting\u00a0energy companies to diversify into clean technology or return money to shareholders.<\/p>\n

“While we celebrate this vote, and others that we hope will follow from it, let’s not forget that the success of climate resolutions ultimately isn\u2019t measured by voting numbers, but by the substantive changes they catalyse,” said\u00a0Catherine Howarth, chief executive of pressure group ShareAction.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shareholders in world’s largest private oil company won a victory that signals deep unease about climate change amongst major investors","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":33998,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2554,598],"tags":[2275,80],"coauthors":[3983],"class_list":["post-33995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-carbon-bubble","category-fossil-fuels","tag-exxon","tag-oil-and-gas","type-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nExxon shareholders win 'historic' climate vote against board's advice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Shareholders in world's largest private oil company won a victory that signals deep unease about climate change amongst major investors\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2017\/05\/31\/exxon-shareholders-win-historic-vote-climate-transparency\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Exxon shareholders win 'historic' climate vote against board's advice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Shareholders in world's largest private oil company won a victory that signals deep unease about climate change amongst major investors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2017\/05\/31\/exxon-shareholders-win-historic-vote-climate-transparency\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Climate Home News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ClimateHomeNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-05-31T19:38:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-05-31T19:40:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.climatechangenews.com\/files\/2017\/05\/No_blood_for_oil.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Megan Darby\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@climatemegan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ClimateHome\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Megan Darby\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2017\/05\/31\/exxon-shareholders-win-historic-vote-climate-transparency\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2017\/05\/31\/exxon-shareholders-win-historic-vote-climate-transparency\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Megan Darby\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8d5e91de65d6588da32864acbca918c6\"},\"headline\":\"Exxon shareholders win ‘historic’ climate vote against board’s advice\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-05-31T19:38:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-05-31T19:40:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2017\/05\/31\/exxon-shareholders-win-historic-vote-climate-transparency\/\"},\"wordCount\":705,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2017\/05\/31\/exxon-shareholders-win-historic-vote-climate-transparency\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.climatechangenews.com\/files\/2017\/05\/No_blood_for_oil.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Exxon\",\"Oil and Gas\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Carbon bubble\",\"Fossil Fuels\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2017\/05\/31\/exxon-shareholders-win-historic-vote-climate-transparency\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2017\/05\/31\/exxon-shareholders-win-historic-vote-climate-transparency\/\",\"name\":\"Exxon shareholders win 'historic' climate vote against board's advice\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2017\/05\/31\/exxon-shareholders-win-historic-vote-climate-transparency\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2017\/05\/31\/exxon-shareholders-win-historic-vote-climate-transparency\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.climatechangenews.com\/files\/2017\/05\/No_blood_for_oil.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-05-31T19:38:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-05-31T19:40:09+00:00\",\"description\":\"Shareholders in world's largest private oil company won a victory that signals deep unease about climate change amongst major investors\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2017\/05\/31\/exxon-shareholders-win-historic-vote-climate-transparency\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2017\/05\/31\/exxon-shareholders-win-historic-vote-climate-transparency\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2017\/05\/31\/exxon-shareholders-win-historic-vote-climate-transparency\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cdn.climatechangenews.com\/files\/2017\/05\/No_blood_for_oil.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.climatechangenews.com\/files\/2017\/05\/No_blood_for_oil.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":450,\"caption\":\"(Photo: Brian Katt)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2017\/05\/31\/exxon-shareholders-win-historic-vote-climate-transparency\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Exxon shareholders win ‘historic’ climate vote against board’s advice\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/\",\"name\":\"Climate Home News\",\"description\":\"Climate change news, analysis, commentary, video and podcasts focused on developments in global climate politics\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Climate Home News\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cdn.climatechangenews.com\/files\/2024\/01\/03155729\/Climate-Home-News-Logo-RGB-Colour.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.climatechangenews.com\/files\/2024\/01\/03155729\/Climate-Home-News-Logo-RGB-Colour.png\",\"width\":2856,\"height\":862,\"caption\":\"Climate Home News\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ClimateHomeNews\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/ClimateHome\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/climate-home-news\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/climatestudio\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8d5e91de65d6588da32864acbca918c6\",\"name\":\"Megan Darby\",\"description\":\"Megan Darby is the editor of Climate Home News. She previously wrote about UK energy and water industries for leading sector publication Utility Week. She holds a Mathematics degree from Newcastle University.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/author\/megan-darby\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/climatemegan\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/author\/megan-darby\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Exxon shareholders win 'historic' climate vote against board's advice","description":"Shareholders in world's largest private oil company won a victory that signals deep unease about climate change amongst major investors","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2017\/05\/31\/exxon-shareholders-win-historic-vote-climate-transparency\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Exxon shareholders win 'historic' climate vote against board's advice","og_description":"Shareholders in world's largest private oil company won a victory that signals deep unease about climate change amongst major investors","og_url":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2017\/05\/31\/exxon-shareholders-win-historic-vote-climate-transparency\/","og_site_name":"Climate Home News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ClimateHomeNews\/","article_published_time":"2017-05-31T19:38:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-05-31T19:40:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":450,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.climatechangenews.com\/files\/2017\/05\/No_blood_for_oil.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Megan Darby","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@climatemegan","twitter_site":"@ClimateHome","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Megan Darby","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2017\/05\/31\/exxon-shareholders-win-historic-vote-climate-transparency\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2017\/05\/31\/exxon-shareholders-win-historic-vote-climate-transparency\/"},"author":{"name":"Megan Darby","@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8d5e91de65d6588da32864acbca918c6"},"headline":"Exxon shareholders win ‘historic’ climate vote against board’s advice","datePublished":"2017-05-31T19:38:34+00:00","dateModified":"2017-05-31T19:40:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2017\/05\/31\/exxon-shareholders-win-historic-vote-climate-transparency\/"},"wordCount":705,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2017\/05\/31\/exxon-shareholders-win-historic-vote-climate-transparency\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.climatechangenews.com\/files\/2017\/05\/No_blood_for_oil.jpg","keywords":["Exxon","Oil and Gas"],"articleSection":["Carbon bubble","Fossil Fuels"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2017\/05\/31\/exxon-shareholders-win-historic-vote-climate-transparency\/","url":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2017\/05\/31\/exxon-shareholders-win-historic-vote-climate-transparency\/","name":"Exxon shareholders win 'historic' climate vote against board's advice","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2017\/05\/31\/exxon-shareholders-win-historic-vote-climate-transparency\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2017\/05\/31\/exxon-shareholders-win-historic-vote-climate-transparency\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.climatechangenews.com\/files\/2017\/05\/No_blood_for_oil.jpg","datePublished":"2017-05-31T19:38:34+00:00","dateModified":"2017-05-31T19:40:09+00:00","description":"Shareholders in world's largest private oil company won a victory that signals deep unease about climate change amongst major investors","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2017\/05\/31\/exxon-shareholders-win-historic-vote-climate-transparency\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2017\/05\/31\/exxon-shareholders-win-historic-vote-climate-transparency\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2017\/05\/31\/exxon-shareholders-win-historic-vote-climate-transparency\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cdn.climatechangenews.com\/files\/2017\/05\/No_blood_for_oil.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.climatechangenews.com\/files\/2017\/05\/No_blood_for_oil.jpg","width":800,"height":450,"caption":"(Photo: Brian Katt)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2017\/05\/31\/exxon-shareholders-win-historic-vote-climate-transparency\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Exxon shareholders win ‘historic’ climate vote against board’s advice"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/","name":"Climate Home News","description":"Climate change news, analysis, commentary, video and podcasts focused on developments in global climate politics","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/#organization","name":"Climate Home News","url":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cdn.climatechangenews.com\/files\/2024\/01\/03155729\/Climate-Home-News-Logo-RGB-Colour.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.climatechangenews.com\/files\/2024\/01\/03155729\/Climate-Home-News-Logo-RGB-Colour.png","width":2856,"height":862,"caption":"Climate Home News"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ClimateHomeNews\/","https:\/\/x.com\/ClimateHome","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/climate-home-news","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/climatestudio"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8d5e91de65d6588da32864acbca918c6","name":"Megan Darby","description":"Megan Darby is the editor of Climate Home News. She previously wrote about UK energy and water industries for leading sector publication Utility Week. She holds a Mathematics degree from Newcastle University.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/author\/megan-darby","https:\/\/x.com\/climatemegan"],"url":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/author\/megan-darby\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33995"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33995"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33996,"href":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33995\/revisions\/33996"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33995"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=33995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}