BP board suffers triple climate rebellion from shareholders | BP
BP’s board suffered a triple climate rebellion at its first shareholder meeting since appointing new executives to run the troubled oil company.
More than 50% of shareholders voting at the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) spoke out against its plan to scrap its existing climate reports and its resolution to replace in-person annual shareholder meetings – a lightning rod for climate protest in recent years – with online-only events.
About 18% of shareholders voted against the re-election of BP Chairman Albert Manifold less than a year after he took office. The “unprecedented” revolt means BP will not be allowed to implement resolutions that were rejected by the majority, although Manifold will retain its presidency.
Dissenting shareholders included Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), the UK’s largest asset manager, which said it would vote against Manifold and oppose BP’s plans to reduce climate reporting.
Manifold was heavily criticized in the run-up to the AGM for introducing a resolution to dilute BP’s climate information and for blocking a resolution from activist shareholders of climate campaign group Follow This.
Influential proxy shareholder advisor Glass Lewis said Manifold was ultimately responsible for BP’s decision to exclude the Follow This resolution and recommended a vote against it on those grounds.
The resolution calls on BP to explain how its pursuit of growing oil and gas production aligns with a world moving away from fossil fuels.
“The question is simple: How does BP plan to create shareholder value as demand for oil and gas declines? » said Mark van Baal, founder of Follow This. “BP prefers to upset its shareholders rather than respond to them.”
Nick Mazan of the Australasian Center for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR) said: “Today’s outcome is unprecedented and demonstrates that investors are fed up with BP’s lack of financial discipline and its approach to shareholder rights.
“In our view, it was a mistake for BP to hope to impose measures to undermine shareholder rights without resistance. Investors made it clear to the company that excluding shareholders was unacceptable in the public markets,” Mazan said.
Shareholders took the blows against BP weeks after Meg O’Neill joined the 116-year-old company as chief executive, as the first external recruit to BP’s top job and the first woman to hold the role at a major oil company.
O’Neill faces pressure from shareholders to revive BP’s flagging fortunes after its failed green agenda under former boss Bernard Looney left the company’s market value lagging behind oil industry rivals including Shell.
BP has watered down plans to cut its oil and gas output in favor of increasing production, but the company’s decision to suppress climate information has been criticized by investors.
Glass Lewis and proxy advisory firm ISS urged shareholders to oppose BP’s proposal to abandon two previous resolutions requiring company-specific climate disclosures. The resolution was also opposed by LGIM.
