WP - Investors Engaged In "Fight For The Soul (*Snort*) Of Exxon Mobil"
A group of insurgent investors backed by the three largest pension funds in America is trying to force ExxonMobil to take climate change much more seriously — not just for the sake of the company’s viability but also for the sake of the planet.
The revolt is being led by a hedge fund, called Engine No. 1, which has charged the company not only with poor financial governance but with failing to come up with a viable strategy for dealing with the existential threat of climate change. Their campaign has built momentum by winning widespread backing from pension funds and shareholder advisory services for its proposal to install four new independent directors at ExxonMobil’s annual meeting next week over the objections of the oil giant’s management.
Engine No. 1 wants ExxonMobil to pledge to reduce its emissions to net zero by 2050, warning that this was “not just a climate issue but a fundamental investor issue — no different than capital allocation or management compensation — given the immense risk to ExxonMobil’s current business model in a rapidly changing world.” The battle at the iconic ExxonMobil — a descendant of the powerful Standard Oil Co. monopoly that was broken up in 1911 — reflects a broader awakening among shareholders about the need for major corporations to take climate change into account. Shareholders have also filed resolutions at other major firms.
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This week Exxon executives have been paying visits to lawmakers in Congress, looking for a radical expansion of the 45Q tax credit that can provide subsidies to carbon capture projects. Woods said he also met with White House special climate envoy John F. Kerry, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and National Economic Council Director Brian Deese. So far, the Biden administration hasn’t nibbled. ExxonMobil’s vice president for low carbon solutions, Guy Powell, also said that the company already has captured 40 percent of the carbon dioxide ever captured. But Powell acknowledged that those figures go back nearly 35 years and include figures for carbon dioxide injected for enhanced oil recovery.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/05/21/exxon-faces-shareholder-revolt-over-climate-change/