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By Suzanne Barlyn
(Reuters) – Exxon Mobil Corp. is trying to block an investor proposal calling on the world's largest publicly traded oil company to set targets for reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, two groups announced on Sunday. of investors involved.
At the end of January, Exxon wrote to the US Securities and Exchange Commission indicating that the proposal put to a vote at its annual meeting in May was misleading and an attempt at "micro-management of the company". said the investor spokesperson supporting the proposal.
The Financial Times reported on the letter earlier Sunday.
The Church Commissioners for England (CEC), the Anglican Church Endowment Fund, an institutional investor who supports the proposal, as well as the Controller of the State of New England York, Thomas DiNapoli, who runs the state pension fund that is moving the proposal forward, both found: Exxon's letter, told Reuters the leaders of both groups.
"Trying to find a shareholder proposal from institutional investors with fiduciary responsibility to manage climate risk is an outdated reflex," said Edward Mason, head of responsible investment at CCE, in a statement. "Our proposal deserves a more serious examination."
Exxon rivals Royal Dutch Shell PLC and BP Plc have taken steps to broaden the scope of information on greenhouse gas emissions or executive compensation to reduce emissions.
Investors supporting the Exxon proposal manage a total of $ 1.9 trillion and are led by DiNapoli.
"Exxon is trying to deny shareholders the right to vote on a major climate risk issue," DiNapoli said in a statement. The position of Exxon is "myopic and disappointing".
Exxon spokesman Scott Silvestri said in an email on Sunday that the company had nothing to share before the company's agent was filed.
The proposal, led by the New York State Pension Fund, calls on Exxon to begin setting targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions "aligned with greenhouse gas reduction targets established by the Paris Climate Agreement, including for the use of its own products.
But these short-, medium- and long-term goals would allow shareholders to oversee its "daily" considerations, writes Exxon to the SEC.
CEC spokesman Mark Arena said that Exxon had told the SEC that it had already put in place many of the measures required by the proposal.
The 2015 Paris Agreement, which aims to limit the increase in average global temperatures to "well below" two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) compared to the pre-industrial era.
In 2017, DiNapoli led a campaign that convinced a majority of shareholders to appeal to Exxon for it to detail the risks badociated with rising temperatures around the world.
Last year, Exxon had released a report explaining how global oil demand could drop sharply by 2040, but critics said the report did not take into account areas such as the impact climate policies on corporate finance.
(Report by Suzanne Barlyn, edited by Cynthia Osterman)
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