Norway’s sovereign wealth fund votes against Chevron and Exxonmobil

London
CNN
 — 

The world’s most significant investor in the stock industry desires ExxonMobil and Chevron to do extra to tackle the climate crisis.

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, which holds $1.four trillion in total assets, announced Friday that it would back calls for the US oil corporations to set extra aggressive emission reduction targets.

It mentioned it would assistance motions proposed by climate activist group Stick to This at the companies’ annual shareholder meetings subsequent Wednesday. ExxonMobil and Chevron

(CVX) have urged shareholders to reject them.

Stick to This has known as on the corporations, along with European oil majors BP

(BP), Shell

(RDSA) and TotalEnergies

(TOT), to set extra ambitious targets for cutting their “scope 3” emissions by the finish of the decade. These emissions consist of the greenhouse gases emitted when their solutions, such as gasoline, jet fuel and organic gas, are utilised by prospects.

The group says the revised targets would far better align the corporations with the Paris climate agreement, which aims to limit worldwide warming to 1.five degrees Celsius.

Mark van Baal, the founder of Stick to This, told CNN that the Norwegian fund had a “huge duty,” adding that it was surprising it hadn’t taken equivalent action against European power firms at their shareholder meetings.

“Basically, they are saying to Shell, BP and Total: You do not have to minimize your emissions this decade. We anticipate them to right this oversight subsequent year,” he mentioned.

The fund did not vote with activists against BP and Shell at their most current annual shareholder meetings, held final month and final week respectively.

Carine Smith Ihenacho, the fund’s chief corporate governance officer, told the Monetary Occasions Friday that “both BP and Shell have great scope three targets, they have great transition plans.”

The fund also intended to vote with TotalEnergies against activists’ “scope 3” proposals at the French company’s annual shareholder meeting on Friday, it mentioned on its web-site.

French riot police held back many hundred climate protestors attempting to protect against TotalEnergies’ shareholders from attending the meeting in Paris, Reuters reported.

ExxonMobil, which has not set “scope 3” targets, mentioned in a letter to shareholders final month that such targets would encourage oil and gas corporations to divest their assets, lowering the provide of solutions “that society requires.”

“Make no error, we are committed to lowering greenhouse gas emissions,” the business mentioned.

Chevron aims to minimize its carbon emissions by five% more than the subsequent 5 years from a 2016 baseline, a target that covers “scope 3” emissions, but has urged shareholders to reject activist proposals.

The proposal would “require shrinking Chevron’s company,” the business mentioned in a letter to shareholders final month.

ExxonMobil and Chevron did not instantly respond to CNN’s request for comment on the voting intentions of Norway’s wealth fund, which is financed by the country’s vast oil and gas revenues. It owns shares in extra than 9,200 corporations across 63 nations, with total equity holdings of $790 billion.

It holds a .86% stake in Chevron and a 1.13% stake in ExxonMobil, according to the most recent fund information.

In its statement Friday, the fund also mentioned it was calling for Chevron CEO Mike Wirth and ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods to resign as chairmen of the companies’ boards mainly because it believed the leading roles need to be performed by two unique people today.

“The board need to physical exercise objective judgment on corporate affairs and be capable to make choices independently of management,” the fund mentioned on its web-site.