© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: An Exxon signal is seen at a gasoline station within the Chicago suburb of Norridge, Illinois, U.S., October 27, 2016. REUTERS/Jim Younger
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By Sabrina Valle
HOUSTON (Reuters) – Shareholders of Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:) and Chevron Corp (NYSE:) on Wednesday voted in favor of the power transition methods proposed by the 2 largest U.S. oil producers, following comparable help of European oil companies’ local weather plans.
Main oil producers this yr flipped the script and received over traders with latest steps to reduce carbon emissions and as worries over power safety and gas costs overshadowed environmental considerations at this yr’s conferences.
Solely 33% of Chevron shareholders and 28% of Exxon’s voted in favor of local weather proposals filed by activist group Observe This at their annual shareholder conferences on Wednesday.
Chevron holders voted towards a proposal for extra stringent motion on addressing emissions from customers burning its fuels, referred to as scope 3.
At Exxon, outcomes marked a serious shift from a year-ago when activist traders secured three seats on its board, a governance landmark. The corporate since has allotted $2.5 billion per yr for initiatives to reduce its emissions.
“One third is a shareholder revolt,” mentioned Observe This founder Mark van Baal, referring to the Chevron vote. “Along with these traders we now have to persuade the opposite traders to vote in favor of Paris-alignment as effectively.”
Traders’ extra management-supportive stance coincides with this yr’s surge in power costs and follows better efforts by producers to transition to lower-carbon fuels.
Shareholders earlier blocked proposals to speed up carbon emission reductions at oil and gasoline producers TotalEnergies, BP (NYSE:) PLC, Shell (LON:), Occidental Petroleum Corp (NYSE:) and ConocoPhillips (NYSE:).
