The Church Commissioners, the investment arm of the Church of England, have received support in their insistence that ExxonMobil become more transparent as the oil company makes moves to address climate change. ISS and Glass Lewis, proxy advisory service companies who guide institutional investors responsible for trillions of dollars, have lent their support to the Commissioners which makes the likelihood of backing from other entities probable. The Norwegian Government Pension Fund and the New York State Common Retirement Fund have also expressed support.
The resolution calls for ExxonMobil to [su_quote]publish an annual assessment of long term portfolio impacts of public climate change policies” and “should analyze the impacts on ExxonMobil’s oil and gas reserves and resources under a scenario in which reduction in demand results from carbon restrictions and related rules or commitments adopted by governments consistent with the globally agreed upon two-degree target.[/su_quote]
World leaders approved a target of capping global temperature rise to two degrees Celsius U.N.’s COP21 climate change talks last year in Paris.
However, ExxonMobil opposes this and have tried to keep the resolution from the annual shareholder’s meeting agenda; but the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rejected the move. ExxonMobil has contacted shareholders, saying: [su_quote]ExxonMobil believes that producing our existing hydrocarbon resources is essential to meeting growing global energy demand. We enable consumers – especially those in the least-developed and most-vulnerable economies – to pursue higher living standards and greater economic opportunity.
We believe all economic energy sources will be necessary to meet growing demand, and the transition of the energy system to lower carbon sources will take many decades due to its enormous scale, capital intensity and complexity. As such, we believe that none of our proven hydrocarbon reserves are, or will become, stranded.[/su_quote]
The resolution will be put before ExxonMobil’s shareholders on May 25.
Information for this story comes from Episcopal News Service