London (CNN Business) Big Oil suffered a trio of unprecedented defeats on Wednesday as investors and climate activists used shareholder votes and the courts to press for much greater urgency in rescuing the planet from a climate catastrophe.
The first blow came in the Netherlands, where a court ruled that Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA) must move much faster than planned to slash its carbon emissions in a case brought by the local branch of Friends of the Earth.
The Anglo-Dutch company was ordered to slash its CO2 emissions by 45% by 2030 from 2019 levels. Crucially, the target includes emissions created when consumers use the oil, gasoline and natural gas that Shell produces.
Big implications: Shell said it would appeal the ruling. But the decision is remarkable, setting numerous precedents that could eventually force other oil and mining companies to change their business models.
For the first time, a court took the goals set out in the Paris Climate agreement and applied them to a company. Shell had been targeting a 20% reduction in carbon intensity by 2030, and 45% by 2035. Now it must move faster.
"The court understands that the consequences could be big for Shell," said Jeannette Honée, a spokeswoman for the court. "But the court believes that the consequences of severe climate change are more important than Shell's interests," she added.
Hours later, attention shifted to Exxon Mobil's annual shareholder meeting, where a plucky hedge fund called Engine No.1 was seeking to unseat four board members in a corporate version of David vs. Goliath.
Balance of power: Engine No. 1 holds just 0.02% of Exxon's shares and has only existed for six months. Exxon was the world's most valuable company as recently as 2013, generated sales of $179 billion in 2020 (a down year) and once wielded enough influence to be described as having its own foreign policy.
Engine No. 1 argued the climate crisis poses an existential threat to Exxon (XOM) — one the company hasn't taken seriously enough — and Wall Street's biggest guns agreed.
"A refusal to accept that fossil fuel demand may decline in decades to come has led to a failure to take even initial steps towards evolution, and to obfuscating rather than addressing long-term business risk," the hedge fund wrote in its investor presentation.
Scoreboard: Despite the long odds, Engine No. 1 won at least two board seats in the shareholder vote. It could add to that total when counting resumes.
Engine No. 1 triumphed in the proxy fight by recruiting powerful allies that share its concerns about Exxon's direction. Institutional Shareholder Services advised shareholders to vote for three of Engine No. 1's candidates.
Advisory firm Glass Lewis urged shareholders to back two Engine No. 1 candidates. The California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), another powerful pension fund, also backed the campaign.
"Investors are no longer standing on the sidelines. This is a day of reckoning," Anne Simpson, managing investment director at CalPERS, said in a statement.
BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, backed three of the candidates put forward by Engine No. 1. Exxon has traditionally recruited board members who lack "specific energy industry experience," BlackRock explained in a statement, while the Engine No. 1 nominees have significant expertise in renewable energy, technology and infrastructure.
"We continue to be concerned about Exxon's strategic direction and the anticipated impact on its long-term financial performance and competitiveness. In our view, the board would benefit from the addition of diverse energy experience to augment existing skillsets," said BlackRock.
The third blow: Chevron (CVX) investors added to the pressure on the industry, voting in favor of a shareholder proposal on Wednesday asking the company to cut emissions generated by the use of its energy products.
Taken together, the defeats send a loud message to other fossil fuel companies as the International Energy Agency warns the world it needs to immediately stop drilling for oil and gas to prevent a climate catastrophe.
What's next: Climate activists will continue to apply pressure to energy companies and investors, pushing for change by using their new battle-tested strategies of attacking via the courts and shareholder resolutions.
Urgent update: There is about a 40% chance of the annual average global temperature temporarily reaching the critical 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels in at least one of the next five years, according to a report published Thursday by the World Meteorological Organization.
Under the Paris climate accord, countries committed to reduce their carbon output and halt global warming below 2 degrees Celsius — and if possible, below 1.5 degrees Celsius — by the end of the century to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
Ad blocker detected: Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors. Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker on our website.
Court Litigation dealt blows to Big Oils
-
- Site Admin
- Posts: 3186
- Joined: Sat Aug 29, 2020 5:40 am
- Location: Singapore
- Contact:
Jump to
- OIL AND GAS
- OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY
- ↳ Financial Results
- ↳ Market News
- ↳ Energy Outlook
- ↳ Petroleum Economics and Energy Policy
- ↳ Health, Safety and Environment
- SHIPPING, PORTS & LOGISTICS
- ↳ Shipping
- ↳ Ports & Terminals
- OIL AND GAS UPSTREAM
- ↳ Seismic, G&G
- ↳ Exploration
- ↳ Drilling & Completion
- ↳ Field Development
- ↳ Subsea Construction & Engineering
- ↳ Decommissioning
- ↳ Field Enhanced Recovery
- ↳ Offshore Services
- OIL AND GAS MIDSTREAM
- ↳ Pipelines and Subsea Pipelines
- ↳ LNG Terminals
- ↳ Marketing & Trading
- OIL AND GAS DOWNSTREAM
- ↳ Petrochemicals and Refineries Plants
- ↳ Marketing & Distribution
- ↳ Marine Terminals
- ↳ LNG to Power
- OIL AND GAS PROJECTS & ASSETS
- ↳ North America
- ↳ Central America
- ↳ South America
- ↳ Barents Sea, Norwegian Sea and Russia
- ↳ North Sea
- ↳ West Africa
- ↳ East Africa
- ↳ North Africa, Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea and Caspian
- ↳ Middle East and the Persian/Arabian Gulf
- ↳ South Asia
- ↳ South East Asia
- ↳ Australia and New Zealand
- ↳ South China Sea
- ↳ East Asia
- OIL AND GAS TECHNOLOGY
- ↳ FPSO, FPU, FSO, FDPSO, FSRU, FLNG, Jack-Up, Drilling Rigs
- ↳ FPSO/FSO/FPU contracts
- ↳ Altera Infrastructure (Teekay Offshore)
- ↳ BW Offshore
- ↳ SBM Offshore
- ↳ MODEC
- ↳ Yinson
- ↳ Bumi Armada
- ↳ MISC Berhad
- ↳ Rubicon Offshore
- ↳ Samsung Heavy Industries
- ↳ Hanwha Ocean (fka. DSME)
- ↳ Sembcorp Marine
- ↳ Keppel Offshore & Marine
- ↳ Saipem
- ↳ Bluewater
- ↳ CIMC Raffles
- ↳ KSOE
- ↳ TechnipEnergies
- ↳ CNPC/CPOE
- ↳ MTC Group
- ↳ Drydocks World Dubai
- ↳ Omni Offshore
- ↳ Euronav
- ↳ STX Corporation
- ↳ Petrofac
- ↳ Maersk FPSO
- ↳ COSCO
- ↳ Estaleiros do Brasil Ltda
- ↳ EMAS Offshore
- ↳ COOEC
- ↳ Drilling Rigs Contracts
- ↳ Valaris
- ↳ Transocean
- ↳ Borr Drilling
- ↳ Diamond Offshore
- ↳ Maersk Drilling
- ↳ Seadrill
- ↳ COSL Drilling
- ↳ Noble Drilling
- ↳ ARO Drilling
- ↳ Stena Drilling
- ↳ Northern Drilling
- ↳ Awilco Drilling
- ↳ PV Drilling
- ↳ Odfjell Drilling
- ↳ Shelf Drilling
- ↳ Grupo R
- ↳ Japan Drilling Company
- ↳ Vantage Drilling
- ↳ Bluewhale Offshore
- ↳ Northern Offshore
- ↳ Dolphin Drilling
- ↳ Velesto Energy
- ↳ Türkiye Petrolleri Anonim Ortaklığı (TPAO)
- ↳ Jindall Drilling
- ↳ Northern Ocean
- ↳ Island Drilling
- ↳ Saipem
- ↳ CPOE
- ↳ GSP Offshore
- ↳ ADES
- ↳ Arabian Drilling
- ↳ ADNOC Drilling
- ↳ Ocyan SA
- ↳ OC Offshore
- ↳ Eldorado Drilling
- ↳ Support/Construction/Offshore Vessels
- ↳ DOF Subsea
- ↳ ALP
- ↳ Subsea 7
- ↳ MCDERMOTT
- ↳ POSH
- ↳ Prosafe
- ↳ Floatel
- ↳ Saipem
- ↳ Tidewater
- ↳ Boskalis
- ↳ Siem Offshore
- ↳ OOS International
- ↳ Maersk Supply Service
- ↳ Rig Designs
- ↳ FPSO Designs
- ↳ FLNG, FSRU, FCSU Designs
- ↳ MODEC
- ↳ Technip Energies
- ↳ JGC
- ↳ Sevan SSP
- ↳ GTT
- ↳ Samsung Heavy Industries
- ↳ Bumi Armada
- ↳ DSME
- ↳ Wison Offshore
- ↳ FLNG, FSRU contracts
- ↳ Golar LNG
- ↳ Höegh LNG
- ↳ Excelerate Energy
- ↳ BOTAŞ Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAS)
- ↳ Samsung Heavy Industries
- ↳ Saipem
- ↳ Sembcorp Marine
- ↳ BW LNG
- ↳ DSME
- ↳ Dynagas
- ↳ MOL
- ↳ Wison Offshore
- ↳ Energos Infrastructure
- ↳ Subsea Engineering
- ↳ Turrets and Moorings
- ↳ SOFEC
- ↳ Bluewater
- ↳ SBM Offshore
- ↳ NOV APL
- ↳ DELMAR
- ↳ Remazel Engineering
- ↳ Seasystems
- ↳ London Marine Consultants
- ↳ Havfram
- ↳ Drilling, Work-over and Intervention
- ↳ Drilling, Work Over, Intervention, and P&A contracts
- ↳ Helix Energy Solutions
- ↳ Drilling Equipment and System contracts
- ↳ Zero Carbon
- ↳ Process / Packages
- ↳ Digital Technology
- ↳ Other Technology
- ↳ EPCI
- ↳ Asset Lifecycle
- ↳ Marine
- OIL AND GAS JOBS
- ↳ Job Agent: Submit your CV!
- ↳ Offshore Production (FPSO, FSO, FPU, Offshore Platforms)
- ↳ Drilling (Oil Rigs, Land Rigs)
- ↳ EPC Project Management (Fabrication Yards)
- ↳ Petrochemicals and Refineries
- ↳ Tankers & Shipping
- ↳ Onshore
- OIL AND GAS LIFE
- ↳ Jobs & Careers - For a better future
- ↳ Learning Hub - All Technical Stuffs
- ↳ Global Citizen - The World is your Oyster
- ↳ North Sea Stories
- ↳ Offshore Norge
- ↳ Middle East Stories
- ↳ Brazil Stories
- ↳ South-East Asia Stories
- ↳ Drilling Rigs
- ↳ FPSOs
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 4 guests