General
News
Prairie
Chickens Are Dying Out On The Great Plains. Biden’s Efforts To Save Them Could Spark Fight On Key Oil Patch.
According
to the Washington Post, “The Biden administration called for new protections under the Endangered Species Act for an iconic bird of the Great Plains on Wednesday, a move with major consequences for the oil and gas industry. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials
proposed listing as endangered a portion of the lesser prairie chicken’s population living in Texas and New Mexico, whose range overlaps with the oil- and gas-rich Permian Basin. The agency stopped short of awarding the same protections to the birds’ northern
population, in Oklahoma and Kansas, on the grounds that their numbers had declined less drastically. The decision, one of nearly two dozen new conservation measures the administration has adopted in the past four months, underscores President Biden’s push
to unravel his predecessor’s environmental policies. In a separate move Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency abolished a rule restricting what sort of studies the agency can use in crafting public health rules. Biden has targeted Trump’s energy and
environmental policies or proposed one of his own at the rate of about one a day, according to a Washington Post analysis. Although administration officials have emphasized the need to heed scientific findings on climate change and other pressing environmental
threats, Wednesday’s actions highlight the difficult terrain they must navigate. For a small bird, the lesser prairie chicken has had an outsize impact on national politics. It has roamed millions of acres over several states in the Great Plains, grasslands
that have been carved up over the years to make way for corn and soybean fields, sprawling cities, and the Midwestern drilling rigs used to suck oil and gas out of the ground. The chickens have lost about 90 percent of their historic population, Fish and Wildlife
Service officials said.” [Washington Post, 5/26/21
(=)]
Biden
Administration Defends Huge Alaska Oil Drilling Project. According
to the New York Times, “The Biden administration is defending a huge Trump-era oil and gas project in the North Slope of Alaska designed to produce more than 100,000 barrels of oil a day for the next 30 years, despite President Biden’s pledge to pivot the
country away from fossil fuels. The multibillion-dollar plan from ConocoPhillips to drill in part of the National Petroleum Reserve was approved by the Trump administration late last year. Environmental groups sued, arguing that the federal government failed
to take into account the impact that drilling would have on fragile wildlife and that burning the oil would have on global warming. The project, known as Willow, set up a choice for the Biden administration: decline to defend oil drilling and hinder a lucrative
project that conflicts with its climate policy or support a federal decision backed by the state of Alaska, some tribal nations, unions and key officials, including Lisa Murkowski, a moderate Republican senator seen as a potential ally of the administration
in an evenly split Senate. On Wednesday, the administration filed a brief in U.S. District Court for Alaska, defending the Trump administration decision to greenlight the Willow project. In a statement, the Interior Department said that the Trump administration
decision complied with the environmental rules in place at the time and that the plaintiffs did not challenge the approval ‘within the time limitations associated with environmental review projects’ for the National Petroleum Reserve. The administration declined
to explain how its position on the Willow project aligns with its climate change policies. But in its court filing, the government said the Trump administration adequately considered Willow’s impacts on fish, caribou and polar bear habitat. It also upheld
the method used by the prior administration to account for the greenhouse gas emissions generated by the project.” [New York Times,
5/26/21
(=)]
LNG
Company Announces Major Carbon Capture Project. According
to E&E News, “A liquefied natural gas producer is unveiling plans today to develop a carbon capture project at two export facilities in Louisiana, expanding the sector’s interest in carbon capture and storage as a way to reduce its carbon footprint. Virginia-based
Venture Global LNG said it has performed engineering and geotechnical studies and that, ‘subject only to regulatory approvals,’ it will launch the carbon capture and sequestration project at its Calcasieu Pass and Plaquemines LNG facilities. Both of those
facilities are still under development, according to Venture Global’s website. The proposed project aims to compress carbon dioxide at the sites before transporting the greenhouse gas and injecting it into saline aquifers for permanent storage, the announcement
said. The company declined to disclose a price tag for the venture. ‘Through this historic carbon capture and sequestration project, we will build upon our existing state-of-the-art technology to develop even cleaner LNG at our facilities to displace coal
around the world,’ Venture Global CEO Mike Sabel said in a statement. He told a group of oil and gas executives in March that inexpensive LNG exports are likely in a position to have the biggest impact on greenhouse gas emissions ‘by reducing adoption of new
or development of new coal plants and encouraging conversion from coal to gas’ (Energywire, March 8). Sabel said the Bayou State’s geology allows for industrial-scale injection and storage of CO2, and he praised Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) for pushing
to make the state a hub for innovative energy technology to tackle climate. Calcasieu Pass aims to be the next LNG facility to come online in the U.S., and the company says the completion of a successful carbon capture project there would be the ‘first of
its kind for an existing LNG facility in the United States.’” [E&E News,
5/27/21
(=)]
Committee
Approves Orphaned Well, Coal Mine Cleanup Bills. According
to E&E News, “The House Natural Resources Committee advanced legislation yesterday meant to address the nation’s vast inventory of hazardous orphaned oil and gas wells and abandoned coal mines. The panel approved a contentious bill focused on plugging orphaned
oil and gas wells, as well as three pieces of legislation meant to clean up abandoned mines and promote economic diversification in coal country. Democrats and Republicans quarreled at length over the ‘Orphaned Well Clean-up and Jobs Act’ by Rep. Teresa Leger
Fernández (D-N.M.). Leger Fernández said H.R. 2415 is aimed at creating jobs, ensuring drillers follow through with cleanup obligations and reducing emissions of methane, a potent planet-warming gas that leaks from orphaned wells. The bill would authorize
$7.25 billion in grants to pay for orphaned well reclamation on state and private lands. It would also make $400 million in grants available to clean up wells on public lands and $300 million on tribal lands. States would become eligible for some of the grants
if they strengthen environmental regulations, such as those restricting methane emissions from oil and gas operations. The bill would also bump up bonding requirements that cover cleanup costs in case financially distressed companies can’t follow through.
Rates for a single federal lease would rise from $10,000 to $150,000; for an operator’s leases statewide, the rates would rise from $150,000 to $500,000. Adjusting the federal bonding rates would ‘help prevent a new batch of orphaned and abandoned wells,’
Leger Fernández said. More than 56,000 orphaned wells exist nationwide, according to her office.” [E&E News,
5/27/21
(=)]
TSA
Orders Pipeline Companies To Disclose Breaches After Colonial Hack. According
to Politico, “Companies that operate pipelines must alert the government whenever they suffer cyberattacks, the Transportation Security Administration ordered Thursday, in the Biden administration’s first effort to harden U.S. critical infrastructure after
hackers disrupted the East Coast’s gasoline supply three weeks ago. Pipeline operators also must preemptively assess their cybersecurity postures for weaknesses that could open the door to hackers, according to the new TSA rule. The rule announced Thursday
is the first-ever federal cybersecurity regulation for pipeline companies, which until now have faced only voluntary TSA guidance, including the suggestion that they report breaches. It comes as Congress is debating even more sweeping responses to this month’s
disruptive Colonial Pipeline hack, such as proposals to mandate cyber incident reporting by all companies that operate critical infrastructure or provide key technology services. In addition, some lawmakers of both parties have suggested stripping oversight
of pipeline security from the TSA, an arm of the Department of Homeland Security whose main duties include preventing terrorist attacks on commercial airliners. The cyberattack on Colonial, first disclosed May 7, prompted the Georgia-based company to shut
down the 5,500-mile-long pipeline that supplies much of the East Coast’s gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, leading to hoarding and widespread fuel shortages. ‘The Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack was a powerful reminder … of why we need to take this action,’
a senior DHS official told reporters during a Wednesday briefing. Under the new rule, pipeline operators have 12 hours to report cyber incidents to DHS’ Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which is partnering with TSA on pipeline security.” [Politico,
5/27/21
(=)]
Biden
Administration Backs Alaska Oil Project Approved Under Trump. According
to Politico, “The Biden administration defended a proposed ConocoPhillips oil development in Alaska on Wednesday, backing the project pushed by Alaskan Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the centrist lawmaker the administration has wooed as a potential swing vote. The decision
by the Interior Department to defend in court the Trump administration’s October 2020 decision and allow the Willow project in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska to proceed comes despite Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s opposition to the project last year
when she was a member of Congress. The NPR-A region on Alaska’s North Slope has been producing oil for decades and is separate from the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. President Joe Biden issued a moratorium blocking drilling in ANWR on his first day in office,
freezing the Trump administration’s plans to allow oil exploration there. The Willow project, consisting of five wells that collectively could produce up to 160,000 barrels of oil a day, would be one of the first major new oil projects in Alaska in years.
The development would include a new gravel mine, airstrip, more than 570 miles of ice roads and nearly 320 miles of pipeline to the Alaskan landscape. The Justice Department, in a court filing with the U.S. District Court of Alaska, defended the Trump-era
decision to allow the project against environmental advocacy groups’ allegations that Interior had failed to adequately assess the project’s environmental impacts. Both Alaska Republican Sens. Dan Sullivan and Murkowski discussed the project during an Oval
Office meeting with Biden on Monday. Sullivan said he left behind information on the project and Biden promised to get back to him shortly. ‘I talked extensively with the president on the Willow project,’ Sullivan told POLITICO on Wednesday. ‘I told him ‘It
hasn’t been controversial until you guys put a pause on it.’’” [Politico,
5/26/21
(=)]
Biden
Defends Trump Approval Of Conoco Arctic Oil Project. According
to Bloomberg, “The Justice Department is defending the Trump administration’s approval of a massive ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc. project in federal court, over the objections of environmentalists who say the government didn’t adequately consider the venture’s
effect on polar bears and the climate. In a filing with the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska, the Biden administration said Wednesday that Conoco’s Willow project in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska was approved only after years of analysis,
consultation and public input. ‘Plaintiffs seek to stop the extraction of resources from the petroleum reserve by cherry-picking the records’ of the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Army Corps of Engineers, the administration
told the court. President Joe Biden previously directed the Interior Department to review its 2020 approval of the Willow project, which has the potential to produce 150,000 barrels of oil per day. The project could include as many as five drilling sites,
hundreds of miles of ice roads, an airstrip and a gravel mine site, among other infrastructure. Conservation and indigenous groups have argued the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management failed to sufficiently analyze the environmental and climate
impact of the project. Environmentalists also have argued that planned gravel mining activities imperil a potential denning habitat for polar bears. In February, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an emergency order blocking ConocoPhillips from opening
a gravel mine site and building roads.” [Bloomberg, 5/27/21
(=)]
Republican State Treasurers Say They'll Weigh Banks' Fossil Fuel Stance In Contracting Decisions.
According to The Hill, “Fifteen Republican state treasurers say they will consider whether banks are willing to lend to fossil fuel companies when making contracting decisions, an
attempt to counter reported attempts by the Biden administration to push banks to be more climate-friendly. In a letter to special climate envoy John Kerry on Tuesday, the group wrote that they will ‘put banks and financial institutions on notice’ and urged
them not to refuse services to fossil fuel companies. ‘As the chief financial officers of our respective states, we trust banks and financial institutions with billions of our taxpayers’ dollars,’ they wrote. ‘It is only logical that we will give significant
weight to the fact that an institution engaged in tactics that will harm the people whose money they are handling before entering into or extending any contract.’ The letter was spearheaded by West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore and first reported by
Axios. It cites reporting from Politico that Kerry is privately pushing banks to announce climate commitments including the creation of a net-zero banking alliance. A spokesperson for Kerry didn’t immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment. Environmental
advocates have also pushed banks not to finance activities that harm the climate, and several major banks have put restrictions on which types of projects they will loan to. Republicans argue this is unfair and have sought to paint such actions as ‘discrimination.’”
[The Hill,
5/26/21 (=)]
Climate Activists Defeat Exxon In Push For Clean Energy.
According to the New York Times, “Big Oil was dealt a stunning defeat on Wednesday when shareholders of Exxon Mobil elected at least two board candidates nominated by activist investors
who pledged to steer the company toward cleaner energy and away from oil and gas. The success of the campaign, led by a tiny hedge fund against the nation’s largest oil company, could force the energy industry to confront climate change and embolden Wall Street
investment firms that are prioritizing the issue. Analysts could not recall another time that Exxon management had lost a vote against company-picked directors. ‘This is a landmark moment for Exxon and for the industry,’ said Andrew Logan, a senior director
at Ceres, a nonprofit investor network that pushes corporations to take climate change seriously. ‘How the industry chooses to respond to this clear signal will determine which companies thrive through the coming transition and which wither.’ The vote reveals
the growing power of giant Wall Street firms that manage the 401(k)s and other investments of individuals and businesses to press C.E.O.s to pursue environmental and social goals. Some of these firms are run by executives who say they see climate change as
a major threat to the economy and the planet. Exxon’s top five shareholders include Vanguard, BlackRock and Fidelity, large mutual fund companies. BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, and Exxon’s second-largest shareholder with a 6.7 percent stake,
has cast itself as a leader in efforts to reduce companies’ carbon dioxide emissions. This year, BlackRock’s chief executive, Laurence D. Fink, said that the coronavirus pandemic had ‘driven us to confront the global threat of climate change more forcefully.’
BlackRock backed three of four candidates nominated by the activists. The vote was not fully tabulated at the end of Wednesday, and there were still two seats undecided on the 12-person board. Eight of the people Exxon’s management nominated won seats.” [New
York Times,
5/26/21 (+)]
ExxonMobil Rebel Shareholders Win Board Seats.
According to the Washington Post, “ExxonMobil shareholders voted Wednesday to install at least two new independent directors to the company’s board, a resounding defeat for chief
executive Darren Woods and a ratification of shareholders’ unhappiness with the way the company had been addressing climate change and its lagging financial performance. Woods tried to muster votes until the last minute, but failed to win backing for all of
his proposed directors. In addition to the election of two new independent directors, the votes over two others from the dissident slate were too close to call. Both sides spent tens of millions of dollars on the hard-fought campaign. At one point, ExxonMobil
declared a one-hour recess in the annual meeting, a move many believed reflected ongoing negotiations over votes. ‘Stopping the vote was a pretty desperate move and usually portends a result the establishment does not want to happen,’ said a former oil refining
executive with experience at annual meetings. The proxy campaign that rocked the 130-year-old oil behemoth was led by a young, relatively small hedge fund called Engine No. 1. But it quickly won the backing of the three biggest U.S. pension funds, the two
biggest advisory services, and the three biggest fund managers. The three fund managers — BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street — hold more than 20 percent of the ExxonMobil’s shares. ‘Investors are waking up,’ Anne Simpson, managing investment director for
board governance and sustainability at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, said in the run-up to the vote. ‘The sleeping giant maybe is stirring.’ Chevron investors also flexed their muscle on Wednesday, casting 61 percent of shares in favor
of a proposal asking the oil major to cut its total greenhouse gas emissions, including customers’ emissions, a category known as ‘Scope 3’ in addition to its own operations and supply chains.” [Washington Post,
5/26/21 (+)]
Oil Giants Are Dealt Major Defeats On Climate Change As Pressures Intensify.
According to the Wall Street Journal, “Exxon XOM 1.17% Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell RDS.A 0.38% PLC suffered significant defeats Wednesday as environmental groups and activist
investors step up pressure on the oil industry to address concerns about climate change. In a first-of-its-kind ruling, a Dutch court found that Shell is partially responsible for climate change, and ordered the company to sharply reduce its carbon emissions.
Hours later in the U.S., an activist investor won at least two seats on Exxon’s board, a historic defeat for the oil giant that will likely require it to alter its fossil-fuel focused strategy. The back-to-back, watershed decisions demonstrated how dramatically
the landscape is shifting for oil-and-gas companies as they face increasing pressure from environmentalists, investors, lenders, politicians and regulators to transition to cleaner forms of energy. ‘The events of today show definitively that many leaders in
the oil-and-gas industry have a tin ear and do not understand that society’s views and the legal and political environment in which they operate are changing radically,’ said Amy Myers Jaffe, a professor at Tufts University’s Fletcher School who has advised
energy companies. Many oil companies have begun adopting comprehensive plans to reduce emissions, and some, especially in Europe, have diversified into renewable energy. But reducing emissions without sacrificing some returns is proving challenging, and many
face skepticism about their strategies. ‘It’s a real market predicament,’ said Peter Bryant, a managing partner at business consultant Clareo. ‘Even if their plan is sound, it doesn’t matter right now.’ The Shell ruling, issued by the district court in The
Hague, found that Shell must curb its carbon emissions by 45% by 2030 compared with 2019 levels—and that the company was responsible not only for lowering its own direct emissions from drilling and other operations, but also those of the oil, gas and fuels
eventually burned by consumers.” [Wall Street Journal,
5/26/21 (=)]
Climate Activists Score Wins Against Exxon, Shell And Chevron.
According to NBC News, “It has not been a good few days for Big Oil. Shareholders on Wednesday rebuked the top two U.S. oil companies for dragging their feet on fighting climate change,
while a Dutch court ruled that Royal Dutch Shell needs to accelerate cuts to greenhouse gas emissions. On Thursday, an Australian court ruled that the country’s environment minister has an obligation to children to consider the harm caused by climate change
as part of her decision-making in approving the expansion of a new coal mine. ‘Today was a stark warning for Big Oil,’ Bess Joffe, of the Church Commissioners for England, which manages the Church of England’s investment fund, said on Wednesday. Executives
were ‘being held to account by investors and lawmakers,’ she added. Exxon Mobil lost at least two board seats to an activist hedge fund, shareholders at Chevron endorsed a call to further reduce its emissions and a court deemed Royal Dutch Shell’s emissions
targets insufficient. Investor support for climate concerns could force oil and gas companies to rethink how fast they pivot to other forms of energy. BP Plc, which recently pledged to consult with shareholders on its climate targets, could see the next test
of the groundswell. A Dutch court ordered Shell to slash its carbon dioxide emissions by 2030. Shell said it would appeal, and analysts called the decision not the last word in the case. ‘This ruling has negligible chance to survive appeals,’ said Per Magnus
Nysveen, of energy consultancy Rystad Energy. In a stunning blow to top management at Exxon, shareholders elected two change candidates for its board and approved measures calling for annual reports on climate and grassroots lobbying efforts. Activists could
yet win a third seat with some votes still to be counted and the full board not yet known. After the meeting, CEO Darren Woods said Exxon heard shareholders’ desire to advance lower-carbon and cost-cutting efforts. ‘We are well positioned to respond,’ he said.”
[NBC News,
5/26/21 (+)]
Big Oil And Gas Had A No Good, Very Bad Day.
According to The Verge, “Fossil fuel companies are having a big reckoning with climate change this week. Shareholders for Exxon and Chevron voted for measures that could force them
to take more responsibility for their emissions, while a Dutch court is forcing Shell to slash its pollution. Taken altogether, the actions reflect a growing push for the energy sector to phase out fossil fuels. Major oil companies had already taken some steps
to at least appear to address climate change, but activists are pushing for more action on a faster timeline to meet the scale of the climate crisis. Climate activist Bill McKibben called it a ‘watershed day,’ adding that the ruling against Shell could be
‘game-changing.’ Exxon shareholders, during an annual meeting today, voted in at least two new board members who might force more climate-related change on the company. If they can sway others on the 12-member board of directors, they could direct Exxon to
do business differently. A small hedge fund called Engine No. 1, which has just a 0.02 percent stake in Exxon, nominated four ‘independent’ candidates it says are capable of pushing the company in a more sustainable direction. Each new board member that’s
voted in ousts a sitting member. One of the new board members is Kaisa Hietala, who previously helped lead oil refining company Neste’s venture into renewable energy products. Shareholders also voted in Gregory Goff, a former CEO for refinery company Andeavor.
The other two seats were still too close to call after preliminary results came out this afternoon. This is the first time activist investors have successfully voted their picks onto Exxon’s board, The New York Times reported.” [The Verge,
5/26/21 (+)]
In Historic First, Climate Activists Are Now On Exxon's Board.
According to The Hill, “A group of investors focused on fighting climate change has scored a big win against ExxonMobil after shareholders elected two of the group’s nominated directors
to the oil giant’s board, according to multiple reports. The New York Times reports preliminary votes showed at least two of Engine No. 1’s four candidates were elected to the company’s board of directors Wednesday. The vote was too close to call for the two
remaining seats. The activist hedge fund, which has a minor stake in Exxon at just $50 million, was formed last year with the goal of shifting Exxon’s approach to climate change. The group has pushed the company to invest more heavily in renewables such as
wind and solar and has vied for shareholder votes by arguing the company has not laid out a viable plan to be profitable if there’s a rapid transition away from fossil fuels. The company’s stock has lagged behind its peers over the last several years. Exxon
has focused on addressing climate change by investing in carbon capture and storage technologies rather than in renewables. Securing seats on the board is an unprecedented achievement by activist shareholders and offers hope the group can use its position
to push the company to take on climate change more aggressively. The directors who won include Gregory Goff, former CEO of refinery company Andeavor, and Kaisa Hietala, a former executive at Neste, a company that produces renewable versions of petroleum products.”
[The Hill,
5/26/21 (=)]
ExxonMobil And Chevron Suffer Shareholder Rebellions Over Climate.
According to The Guardian, “US oil giants ExxonMobil and Chevron have suffered shareholder rebellions from climate activists and disgruntled institutional investors over their failure
to set a strategy for a low-carbon future. Exxon failed to defend its board against a coup launched by dissident hedge fund activists at Engine No. 1 which successfully replaced two Exxon board members with its own candidates to help drive the oil company
towards a greener strategy. Meanwhile, a majority of Chevron shareholders rebelled against the company’s board by voting 61% in favour of an activist proposal from – Dutch campaign group Follow This – to force the group to cut its carbon emissions. Mark van
Baal, who founded Follow This, said Wednesday’s shareholder revolts mark an investor ‘paradigm shift’ and a ‘victory in the fight against climate change’. The shareholder rebellions in the US were matched by an unprecedented reversal for the oil industry upset
in the Netherlands where green campaigners won a court battle in the Hague to force Shell to cut its carbon emissions by 45% in the next 10 years. ‘Institutional investors understand that no investment is safe in a global economy wracked by devastating climate
change,’ Van Baal said. The activist win against Chevron was the third successful insurrection coordinated by Follow This against the boards of US oil companies after it forced through votes to cut emissions at ConocoPhillips and Phillips 66 earlier this month.
Exxon was forced to adjourn its annual shareholder meeting for an hour in a bid to stave off the rebellion by Engine No.1 which may claim a further two board seats once the preliminary results are finalised. Exxon said the vote was too close to call late on
Wednesday. Exxon’s second largest shareholder, BlackRock, is understood to have thrown its support behind a campaign by Engine No. 1 to oust four directors on the Exxon board in favour of its own candidates, who all have a background in fossil fuels but leadership
experience in green energy innovation.” [The Guardian,
5/26/21 (=)]
What Exxon, Chevron Climate Shake-Ups Mean For Oil.
According to E&E News, “Climate change activists scored historic victories at the two biggest U.S. oil producers yesterday, winning shareholder votes to shake up the board at Exxon
Mobil Corp. and to force Chevron Corp. to broaden its emissions reduction goals. The votes came the same day a Dutch court ordered Royal Dutch Shell PLC to reduce its emissions (see related story), and weeks after shareholders at ConocoPhillips voted to extend
the company’s emissions-cutting plans. At Exxon Mobil, the replacement of two board members due to activist pressure was unprecedented in the company’s history. The decisions, particularly at the American companies, arrive after decades of pressure from environmentalists
and climate hawks who say the companies haven’t done enough to cut their climate-related pollution or adapt to a world with limits on greenhouse gases. ‘This is one of those days that will be seen in retrospect as a day when everything changed,’ Andrew Logan,
senior director for oil and gas at the nonprofit group Ceres, said on a conference call with reporters. By organizing groups of investors, including pension funds and investment managers like BlackRock Inc., the campaigners were able to force the companies
to change their strategies despite pushback from management. But it took years, and in some cases decades, of work to get to this point, and it could take years before today’s announcements result in concrete changes at the companies. At Exxon, for instance,
the new board members will have to convince the rest of the board to change the company’s strategy. If that happens, they then would have to monitor the management team as it carries out the plan. At Exxon, though, the chief executive officer is also the board
chairman, and the company’s managers also can influence the board by controlling the flow of information.” [E&E News,
5/27/21 (=)]
Big Oil’s Climate-Change Takedown Arrives With Stunning Rebukes.
According to Bloomberg, “Fresh from striking a hammer blow in the boardrooms of the world’s biggest oil companies, the climate movement has a clear message: the energy transition
is happening and there’s no turning back. Just five years ago, environmental activists were limited to waving placards outside of annual meetings and to the odd shareholder proposal, inevitably rebuffed by the boards and management teams. On Wednesday by contrast,
stock investors ousted two Exxon Mobil Corp. directors seen as insufficiently attuned to the threat of climate change, while Chevron Corp. shareholders voted for a proposal to compel the company to reduce pollution by its customers. Royal Dutch Shell Plc was
ordered to slash emissions harder and faster than planned by a Dutch court. It was a humiliating loss for Exxon, the Western world’s biggest oil company, made worse by the fact that the the effort was championed by an activist with just a 0.02% stake. Chief
executive officer and Chairman Darren Woods battled against the tiny fund for weeks, calling its nominees ‘unqualified,’ and offering concessions just hours before the annual meeting. The board even held up the vote in a last-ditch attempt to secure more support.
It was to no avail. The climate movement is now so mainstream that the world’s largest institutional investors were willing to back Engine No. 1, a group of little-known activists who only established their fund six months ago, over one of the biggest titans
in corporate America. BlackRock Inc., the second-largest holder of Exxon with a 6.6% stake, voted for three of the four new directors nominated by Engine No. 1, according to a vote bulletin published Wednesday. The asset manager said it was ‘concerned about
Exxon’s strategic direction’ and could benefit from the addition of the new directors.” [Bloomberg,
5/27/21 (=)]
Exxon Loses Board Votes To Upstart Investor In Milestone Win For Activists.
According to Politico, “In a historic victory for climate activists, at least two dissident candidates will join Exxon Mobil Corp.’s board of directors after a fierce battle between
the oil giant and an upstart shareholder group. The investor, Engine No. 1, put four dissident candidates up for a vote at Wednesday’s annual meeting of Exxon Mobil shareholders. Two of those candidates — Gregory Goff, a former CEO of Andeavor with a 40-year
track record in the energy industry, and Kaisa Hietala, an expert in renewable fuels with 20 years of strategic and operational experience in downstream oil — will join Exxon Mobil’s 12-person board, the company said after a preliminary vote tally. Sitting
board members Michael Angelakis, Susan Avery, Angela Braly, Ursula Burns, Kenneth Frazier, Joseph Hooley, Jeffrey Ubben, and Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods won reelection. Woods also serves as board chair. Votes are too close to call for the remaining sitting
board members and two others offered by Engine No. 1, the company told shareholders. Shareholders also voted to require the company to report annually on its direct and indirect lobbying expenditures, including payments to trade associations that lobby on
climate and other policies, a proposal brought by the United Steelworkers union. A similar proposal from BNP Paribas Asset Management also was approved by shareholders. It requires the board to evaluate and report on how Exxon Mobil’s climate lobbying, including
its contributions to trade associations, align with the Paris Climate Agreement goal to keep global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius. The report should address risks of any misaligned lobbying and the company’s plans, if any, to mitigate those risks.” [Politico,
5/26/21 (=)]
'Powerful Signal': In A Single Day, Big Oil Suffers Historic Blows On Climate.
According to Politico, “The oil industry, long a political heavyweight in Washington, suffered a series of extraordinary blows on Wednesday after shareholders, customers and the courts
turned on the industry out of concern over climate change. In the space of a few hours, Exxon Mobil Corp. was bested by an upstart shareholder seeking to shake up the company’s board. Chevron Corp. investors instructed the company to cut its greenhouse gas
emissions. A Dutch court ordered Royal Dutch Shell to slash emissions by 45 percent. And while the oil industry was taking its hits, longtime ally Ford Motor Co. widened its distance from fossil fuels. ‘Game-changer is an overused metaphor, but surely this
is one,’ Environmental Defense Fund President Fred Krupp said of the day’s events. ‘The policy environment for companies has already changed and will change more.’ The rebukes signal that climate concerns, once confined to environmental activists and barely
registering with some Washington lawmakers, have become mainstream thinking in C-suites and on Wall Street, analysts said. The visible effects of climate change, action by governments, and shifting consumer sentiment are transforming the world in which companies
do business. The speed of events — taking place in an industry that typically measures change in decades — means that companies and even entire regions, including West Texas, will have to face a reality in which will there be less demand for their product,
said Mark Jones, a political science fellow at Rice University in Houston. ‘There’s no going back,’ Jones said of the boardroom and courtroom actions. ‘There’s no going back to where things were for oil and natural gas.’ The action started early Wednesday
when a Dutch court said European energy giant Royal Dutch Shell had helped drive ‘dangerous climate change’ and ordered the company to cut its own CO2 emissions and those of its suppliers and customers by 45 percent by the end of 2030 from 2019 levels.” [Politico,
5/26/21 (+)]
Chad Ellwood
Senior Research Associate
Climate Action Campaign
614.570.3644
He/Him