Exxon and Chevron
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- Published on Thursday, 05 May 2016 02:15
- Written by editor
Exxon and Chevron’s AGMs are coming up in just a few days, and we have the chance to join a ground-breaking shareholder action.
Will you join shareholder proposals that would force Exxon and Chevron to diversify away from fossil fuels?
A,
For decades fossil fuel companies have knowingly contributed to runaway climate change, ravaged local communities, and obstructed the development of renewables -- all to pad their pockets with billions in profits.
But we can change this. We’ve teamed up with a powerful coalition to use shareholder and investor pressure to make Chevron and Exxon diversify away from oil and gas.
In just a few days, thousands of shareholders -- including big pension funds -- will vote on whether to make these oil giants disclose their lobbying, do better reporting, and prove their business model in a low-carbon world.
And guess what? You -- yes you! -- are probably an investor in at least one of these funds.
If you live in the US, the UK, Canada or Australia, you’ve probably contributed to a mutual fund, superannuation fund, or pension fund -- like Vanguard, Canada Pension Plan or AustralianSuper. Or maybe you’ve paid into a 401(k) or other private pension.
You could be the key to making sure major investors vote for our proposal and hold big oil to account. Can you add your voice now?
Go to the Vote Your Pension site and vote for climate action at Exxon and Chevron.
With one click, you can tell your pension or superannuation fund to support four different resolutions -- all aimed at diversifying oil companies away from fossil fuels.
Together, they call on Exxon and Chevron to disclose corporate lobbying, get honest about how effective (or ineffective) their climate policies actually are, measure their long-term value in overall energy reserves -- instead of just counting oil and gas -- and let shareholders nominate board members.
When we learned that two of the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies were holding their AGMs on the exact same day, we knew we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to launch a big push to begin the process of transforming these companies from the inside.
This coordinated effort is unprecedented. And what’s more, it’s working. We’ve just learned that several top investment firms will be voting in favour of these resolutions. If we work together to pressure our pension funds to follow suit, we could actually win.
Our shareholder activism is making a real impact. Just last week, after 3,500 of you contacted your pension funds, we gained historic support for a resolution calling on Canada’s biggest tar sands company to disclose its lobbying and political spending. And last year we forced mining giant Newmont to promise investors that a controversial mining project wouldn’t go ahead without community consent.
It’s time to force Exxon to stop lying about climate change, and make Chevron do the right thing -- let's get these shareholder resolutions passed at Exxon and Chevron’s AGMs and push big oil into the low-carbon future.
Thanks for using your investments to create real change,
Taren, Liz, Lisa and the SumOfUs team
More information
Read more about the resolutions on Vote Your Pension Exxon Mobil feels heat from all sides, Pensions & Investments, May 2 2016
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