IPE – A group of more than 30 asset owners and managers, representing $2,500bn in assets under management, have issued a joint statement to condemn the decision by ExxonMobil to ask a judge to block a proposed shareholder resolution from shareholder advocacy group Follow This.
In the resolution, which has since been withdrawn, Follow This and US sustainability investor Arjuna Capital call on ExxonMobil to accelerate the pace of emission reductions in the medium-term across Scopes 1, 2 and 3, and to “summarise new plans, targets, and timetables”.
In their statement, the investors – which include Swedish pension funds Alecta, AP2, AP3, AP4 and AP7 and Dutch pension giants APG and PGGM – argue that involving a judge in evaluating shareholder proposals “undermines the current system of shareholder advocacy in the US”.
Instead, they believe the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) “should continue to be the preferred arbiter of shareholder proposals”, as the regulator “is best placed to lead discussions between companies and investors, including on how to improve the proposal process”.
“We want to protect the right of shareholders to use their vote to decide for themselves when a proposal, sustainability-related or otherwise, is in their best interests and that of their stakeholders,” the investors argued.
“If there are process or quality-related concerns, we encourage corporate leaders to collaborate with filers to improve their proposal rather than pursue a costly and drawn-out process to obstruct them,” they continued.
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Mark van Baal, the founder of Follow This, welcomed the statement. “It shows a large concern among investors about Exxon’s decision to circumvent the SEC and sue its shareholders to prevent a vote about emissions reductions,” he told IPE.
