![\"oil\"](\"https:\/\/sirius-energy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/106880483-1620650423769-gettyimages-1232557307-NETHERLANDS_SHELL.jpeg\")
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LONDON \u2014 The month of May promises to be a ground-breaking one for Big Oil.<\/p>\n
Oil and gas majors on both sides of the Atlantic are preparing to hold their annual shareholder meetings in the coming weeks. It comes at a time when the world\u2019s largest corporate emitters are under immense pressure to set short, medium and long-term emissions targets that are consistent with the Paris Agreement.<\/p>\n
At present,\u00a0not a single oil and gas company\u00a0is aligned with Paris-consistent emission reduction targets or investment levels more than five years after the landmark climate accord was\u00a0ratified by nearly 200 countries. The agreement is widely recognized as\u00a0critically important\u00a0to avoid an irreversible climate crisis.<\/p>\n
Norway\u2019s\u00a0Equinor\u00a0and U.S. oil producer\u00a0ConocoPhillips\u00a0will hold their respective annual shareholder meetings on Tuesday. The annual general meetings of the U.K.\u2019s\u00a0BP\u00a0and U.S. refiner\u00a0Phillips 66\u00a0will take place on Wednesday, with U.S. oil major\u00a0Chevron\u00a0due to hold its AGM on May 26.<\/p>\n
In a first for the industry, Anglo-Dutch oil giant\u00a0Royal Dutch Shell\u00a0will put its own net-zero transition plan to its shareholders on May 18. The so-called advisory vote, while non-binding, is likely to be closely monitored by those inside and outside the energy sector amid deepening concern about the industry\u2019s stubborn dependency on fossil fuels.<\/p>\n
Dutch group Follow This, a small activist investor with stakes in a number of Big Oil companies, is due to put forward a separate motion at Shell\u2019s AGM, urging investors to leverage their agency and vote with them to compel the firm to urgently change course.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
A thorn in the side of energy majors in recent years, Follow This has also encouraged investors to vote against\u00a0Shell\u2019s transition strategy, describing the firm\u2019s climate plan as \u201cgravely inadequate.\u201d<\/p>\n
In response, a Shell spokesperson told CNBC on Tuesday: \u201cThe Follow This resolution is redundant given Shell has chosen to publish its own resolution which comprehensively details its energy transition strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt includes well defined and measurable short, medium and long-term targets which go further than that requested by Follow This, so our shareholders can be absolutely clear on what Shell is committing to deliver,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n
Shell said it recommends that shareholders vote against the Follow This resolution \u201cand focus attention instead on the more detailed proposal from Shell which will help move the company forwards.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Shell\u2019s Energy Transition Strategy,\u00a0published\u00a0earlier this year, outlined the group\u2019s plans to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. It aims to reduce net carbon emissions by between 6% to 8% by 2023 when compared to 2016 levels. The target jumps up to 20% by 2030, 45% by 2035, and 100% by 2050.<\/p>\n
Shell has not committed to Paris-aligned targets for absolute emissions through to 2030, an omission that has not gone unnoticed by climate activists and investors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a lot at stake,\u201d Mark van Baal, head of Follow This, told CNBC via telephone.<\/p>\n
\u201cBasically, the company is asking for a shareholder mandate for business as usual. We are asking for shareholders to recognize the need for Shell\u2019s climate targets to align with the Paris Agreement,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
![\"Extinction](\"https:\/\/image.cnbcfm.com\/api\/v1\/image\/106872393-16191041982021-04-22t145916z_1714653069_rc221n9k01n4_rtrmadp_0_global-climate-summit-protest.jpeg?v=1620711957&w=740&h=416\")
<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nReflecting on four previously unsuccessful attempts to encourage investors to vote for their climate resolutions at Shell\u2019s AGMs, Follow This\u2019 van Baal said he was confident a larger proportion of voters would back their proposal later this month.<\/p>\n
In 2016, just 2.7% of investors supported Follow This\u2019 climate motion at Shell\u2019s AGM. However, by 2020, van Baal said this figure had climbed to 14.4%.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the percentage of votes will grow again,\u201d he said, arguing that a \u201cgrowing minority\u201d of voters had previously been enough to serve as a catalyst for change.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have now quite hard proof in Europe that oil majors only move when there\u2019s engagement and voting. Engagement is just talk without consequences,\u201d van Baal said.<\/p>\n
Shell has said it will publish an update to its strategy every three years through to 2050. It will also seek an advisory vote on its progress toward its plans and targets every year from 2022.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Asset manager Sarasin & Partners\u00a0said\u00a0late last month that it plans to vote against Shell\u2019s transition plan on May 18, saying \u201cit is impossible to know\u201d whether it is credible or economically feasible. Sarasin & Partners said it would support Follow This\u2019 proposal.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the U.K.\u2019s Local Authority Pension Fund Forum, whose 82 members manage over \u00a3300 billion ($423 billion), also plan to oppose Shell\u2019s climate strategy,\u00a0Reuters reported.<\/p>\n
Separately, the Methodist Church\u00a0sold out of Shell\u00a0over what it described to\u00a0The Financial Times\u00a0on April 30 as the firm\u2019s \u201cinadequate\u201d response to the climate crisis.<\/p>\n
However, another Shell investor, the Church of England\u2019s Pension Board, is likely to support the firm\u2019s climate plan later this month.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe reached a view that it was appropriate to support the strategy to indicate that we want to see the company continue to develop its approach and recognizing that there are still areas that we would expect to see further disclosures on from the company in the coming years,\u201d Adam Matthews, chief responsible investment officer of the Church of England Pensions Board, told CNBC.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are confident that the engagement and the dialogue that we have with the company to participate in that will sort of bear fruit as well,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
When asked whether taking this approach would effectively serve to rubber stamp Shell\u2019s own climate plans rather than encourage them to do more to tackle climate change, Matthews replied: \u201cNo, to be honest, I actually think it is quite the opposite.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/image.cnbcfm.com\/api\/v1\/image\/106723253-1601465290359-gettyimages-1005135896-NETHERLANDS_SHELL.jpeg?v=1601465337&w=740&h=416\")
<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\u201cThis is a representation of where Shell is today. It has set out clarity around the way it is approaching the transition for the first time, it has asked for an indication of support for that from its shareholder base and we are willing to provide that support, but with an acknowledgment that we would expect further evolution of that plan as a result of the dialogue that we are having with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The CEPB has said that in light of the progress it believes Shell has made in recent years, it does not see a need to vote in favor of the climate resolution put forward by Follow This. The CEPB does, however, plan to support Follow This resolutions at other companies \u201cwhere progress is not so obvious.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to the CEPB, Matthews is also co-lead on engagement with Shell for the Climate Action 100+ investor group, which represents investors with assets of around $54 trillion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON \u2014 The month of May promises to be a ground-breaking one for Big Oil. Oil and gas majors on both sides of the Atlantic are preparing to hold their annual shareholder meetings in the coming weeks. It comes at a time when the world\u2019s largest corporate emitters are under immense pressure to set short, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":759,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[120,137,136],"class_list":{"0":"post-760","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oil-gas","8":"tag-big-oil","9":"tag-climate-resolutions","10":"tag-engagement"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sirius-energy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/106880483-1620650423769-gettyimages-1232557307-NETHERLANDS_SHELL.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pahFMi-cg","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sirius-energy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sirius-energy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sirius-energy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sirius-energy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sirius-energy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sirius-energy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":761,"href":"https:\/\/sirius-energy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760\/revisions\/761"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sirius-energy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sirius-energy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sirius-energy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sirius-energy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}