HOUSTON: Activist investors of Chevron Corp said on Wednesday they had filed annual meeting resolutions calling for the oil company to embrace greenhouse gas reductions and align its operations with the Paris climate agreement.

The effort, part of a continuing wave of climate-related proxy resolutions planned for spring 2019 annual shareholder meetings, is being led by investor groups As You Sow and Arjuna Capital. Last year, the two failed to win enough votes at Chevron on resolutions dealing with methane emissions and business risk.

They now want Chevron to report on how it can reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to meet the Paris accord, arguing climate change presents "portfolio risks to investors," according to a copy of the resolution seen by Reuters.

Chevron did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"We filed the first carbon asset risk resolution in 2013," said Danielle Fugere, president of As You Sow. "There has been progress, but not enough."

The Paris climate agreement, adopted by almost 200 nations in 2015, set a goal of capping temperature warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) before the turn of the century.

This week, two groups of Exxon Mobil Corp investors said they would file a shareholder resolution calling on the world's largest oil company to set targets for lowering its greenhouse gas emissions.

Earlier, Royal Dutch Shell set out plans to introduce three-year or five-year carbon emissions targets linked to customers' use of its fuels and affecting executive pay beginning in 2020, following pressure from its investors.

BP and Total also have set short-term targets on reducing their own carbon dioxide emissions.

This year, As You Sow and Arjuna lost votes calling for Chevron to limit methane emissions and to adapt its business to a low carbon economy. Those resolutions received 45 percent and 8 percent support, respectively.

Copyright Reuters, 2018
 

 

 

 

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