It’s a tale of two statements. One, from the US$255 billion California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS), proclaims the pension fund’s voting record in nominating new directors to the board of ExxonMobil at the oil giant’s annual shareholders meeting. The other, from As You Sow, an environmental and social corporate activism non-government organisation, highlights less creditable proxy voting behaviour by some of the world’s leading asset managers, specifically BlackRock, State Street, Vanguard, and T. Rowe Price.
The two new directors at ExxonMobil were nominated by activist investor Engine No. 1, backed by CalSTRS and other major pension funds, including the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) and the New York State Common Retirement Fund.
Engine No. 1 owns just 0.02% of ExxonMobil. But it got at least two activist members onto the ExxonMobil board, to help steer the oil giant away from fossil fuels.
Victory for insurgents stuns Exxon as shareholders vote for a low-carbon future impactalpha.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from impactalpha.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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By Christopher M. Matthews For years, Exxon Mobil Corp. didn t have to pay much attention to investors because of its gargantuan profits. Yet on a Friday night in January, Exxon Chief Executive Darren Woods was defending the company during a video call to an investor owning about 0.02% of the oil giant s stock. Tech investor Chris James s Engine No. 1 had launched an activist campaign against Exxon in December, calling the company a fossil-fuel dinosaur that lacked a coherent plan for surviving a global transition to cleaner energy sources. On the call, Charlie Penner, a hedge-fund veteran helping lead the Engine No. 1 campaign, pressed Mr. Woods to commit to steering Exxon to carbon neutrality, effectively bringing its emissions to zero both from the company and its products by 2050.