Archive: Business & Technology

On May 25, at ExxonMobil's annual shareholders' meeting, New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli and the Church of England — supported by more than 60 institutional investors — will urge the company to address climate change risk. At the meeting, ExxonMobil's board of directors will hear directly from major shareholders who want the company to assess and report on how its business model will adjust to the worldwide effort to limit climate change.

"Combating climate change presents risks and opportunities that ExxonMobil needs to address," said DiNapoli, who is trustee of the New York State Common Retirement Fund. "We need to know if ExxonMobil is taking into account the growth of lower carbon economies and taking steps to protect the long-term value of our investments. Earlier this year, the company tried unsuccessfully to get the Securities and Exchange Commission to keep investors from voting on these important questions at the annual meeting. ExxonMobil's peers are stepping up to address climate risk, it's time they did so as well."

Edward Mason, the Head of Responsible Investment for the Church of England's investment fund said, "I am delighted investors will have the chance to vote on this motion at this week's annual meeting, in spite of ExxonMobil's best efforts to deny them that opportunity. With peers such as BP and Shell agreeing to report on climate risk, the company is in danger of being increasingly out-of-step with the mainstream on this issue."

Investors are asking ExxonMobil to assess the long-term business impact of the global effort to limit the rise in temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius or less. Specifically, shareholders want the company to examine how the 2-degree scenario would affect its oil and gas reserves, assuming a reduction in demand resulting from carbon restrictions. Two leading independent proxy advisors, ISS and Glass Lewis, support the proposal as do numerous institutional investors including CalPERS, the New York City Retirement Systems, and the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global.

The Common Retirement Fund holds shares of ExxonMobil with an estimated value of $995.5 million.

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