CBIS announced today that it will vote in favor of a resolution at the upcoming Exxon Mobil shareholder meeting asking the oil giant to adopt time-bound quantitative greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets.
“As a long-time investor in Exxon, we have been urging the company through active ownership to act as environmental stewards by filing resolutions for 15 of the last 16 years,” said Julie Tanner, Assistant Director, Catholic Responsible Investing at CBIS. “We believe Exxon needs to establish GHG emission reduction goals to establish a plan for long-term, sustainable growth.”
The same proposal will be filed in advance of Chevron’s upcoming shareholder meeting, and CBIS intends to support it as well.
The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) announced a campaign for investors to publicly declare their intent to vote in favor of the resolution. To date, investors with $114 billion in assets under management, including the Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds and Vermont Pension Investment Committee, have joined CBIS in their support.
CBIS and ICCR’s efforts are part of an ongoing campaign to urge companies to reduce GHG emissions and mitigate climate risk. CBIS has recently had successes with both BP and Royal Dutch Shell after co-filing shareholder resolutions with 53 institutional investors from the U.S. and Europe that ask the companies to outline the steps they are taking to combat climate change. Both BP and Shell recommended investors support the proposals, and the BP resolution received a vote of 98% in favor.
“The landmark decisions at BP and Shell have demonstrated how effectively the global investment community can achieve corporate change through shareholder engagement,” said Tanner. “We are hopeful that our continued efforts will increase investor support and prompt Exxon and Chevron to take action as well.”
The Exxon Mobil and Chevron shareholder meetings will be held on May 27.
Click here for the full text of the resolutions and a list of supporting investors.