Source: Daily Mail 27 May 2023
Miner GLENCORE suffered a rebellion during its AGM debate over its thermal coal business. Only 30pc of voting investors opposed its climate report
Follow This is a shareholder climate activist group, founded by Mark van Baal. This is , in his own words, how his wonderful project started :
“So, in the beginning of 2015, we built a website where you could buy one share in Shell. One symbolic green share in Shell was €30 at that time. You could send an email to the CEO of Shell saying, ‘Dear Ben, I’m your new shareholder. You have the power to stop climate change. You have my support to do so. What are you waiting for?’ And with that, a few hundred people bought that idea and actually bought that green share. So, in May, I could go to the shareholder meeting of Shell stating on behalf of a few hundred shareholders—of course, I didn’t tell that they only had one share a person at the event—’We’re here to support you. We know it’s very difficult. We know it’s very difficult to completely change your business, but you have our support. What are you waiting for?'”. “That was 2015, and the answer was quite simple: ‘Thank you for being on the show, the meeting. We’re not ready. See you next year. And please come back every year, like all the NGOs, and we will tell you when the time is right.’ That was 2015. But because we got media attention because I was standing there on my own on behalf of a few hundred people, I managed to get five people—which I always say have a few millions and a few ideals—they bought each of them €1 million in shares in Shell. And then you pass a threshold to the U.K. And when you have €5 million and 100 shareholders, you can file a shareholder resolution. And that’s what we did in the end of 2015. On the shareholder meeting in 2016, a year later, it was actually on the ballot on the agenda of the shareholder meeting. And that was the moment we got serious because then you have the attention of the board because they have to take a decision to advise the shareholders how to vote and the shareholders, the big institutional investors, the big pension fund, they have to decide how they’re going to vote.” “So, that was the moment it started. Five years later, investors one by one say, ‘This might not be in the best interests of the company in the short term, but it is in the best interests of our entire portfolio to stop climate change, and therefore we we’re going to vote for your resolutions because Big Oil has the lead role to play.'”
They have to accept the Paris Climate Agreement. They have to accept that the world, 200 countries in the world, have agreed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, which means that two-thirds of the proven reserves have to stay in the ground, which is quite a simple mathematical calculation. Four hundred gigatons to go, 12,000 on the balance sheets, so two-thirds of it has to stay in the ground.”
And then they have to have a completely different mindset and realize that there is a lot of money in renewables. For instance, the auto industry, and it took a newcomer, it took Tesla, to upend the industry. But Ford, GM, Volkswagen, Fiat, they’re all getting in line. And guess what? They’ve been some of the best performing stocks over the last year because investors see this. They’re transitioning their businesses, they’re taking the pain now, but they know and consumers want electric vehicles going forward.
“Yeah, we have basically two kind of investors. Of course, the institutional investors, who already have packages of shares in Big Oil. So, we try to convince them that we just have a fair ask on the agenda. But we also like to show the world that a lot of retail investors also understand our cause and also understand that we need Big Oil to drive the energy transition. So, we encourage individuals to buy just one symbolic share in an oil major of choice. Shell for €30, BP just €9 euros. And really feel that they are a green shareholder in Big Oil. So, we send them updates, we always address them like, ‘You’re a green shareholder in Big Oil. And on behalf of you, we go to these shareholder meetings, and we ask on behalf of your green share, and we vote on behalf of you for change. Eight thousand people, predominantly in the Netherlands, who have this green share in Shell. Sometimes they join us on the shareholder meeting. We always go to there with 100 people. But yeah, that’s the whole idea, that people feel empowered by being an owner of an oil major, and the oil majors are really the heart of the problem. Fossil fuel industry is responsible for more than 50% of all emissions. And they if they don’t change, no chance we can ever meet the Paris Climate Agreement.”
Daily mail 30 may 2023:
Labour plans to block all new north sea oil and gas developments. However, there are fears that this move would enrich Russia and hit UK families with a big loss in tax UK revenue, a huge import bill, and more CO2 worldwide.
Labour also announced a plan to limit borrowing to green investment only, and ban all new north sea licences.
The UK meets only 45pc of its gas needs from domestic energy. 85pc of homes rely on gas boilers.
30 May 2023:
TIMELINE OF RECENT ACTIVIST PRESSURE ON OIL COMPANIES:
- Last month the BP AGM was disrupted by protesters after the firm sclaed back commitments to cut oil and gas production and reduce its emission reduction targets.
- This week, a tumultuous meeting in London for SHELL, where protesters heckled the board.
- TOTAL’s AGM in Paris descended into chaos yesterday when police were forced to intervene to stop protesters from disrupting it. The furore continued inside, when 30.4pc of voting shareholders backed motion calling for TOTAL to speed up cuts to its greenhouse gas emissions.
- The Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF, of Norway) announced that it will support proposals by shareholders in both US oil giants Exxon Mobil and Chevron, at their AGMs on Wednesday, to introduce targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The Chief corporate governance office of the SWF, Carine Smith, said they did not think the two US oil giants were ‘ambitious enough’ about cutting emissions. The SWF owns 1.2pc in Exxon and 0.9pc in Chevron. However, FOLLOW THIS has questioned why SWF supports climate change for Exxon and Chevron but has not backed it at BP, Shell and TOTAL.