INVESTOR BRIEFING 2023 AGM season
This brief provides an update on the five climate resolutions that will be put to a vote Shell’s, BP’s, ExxonMobil’s, Chevron’s, and TotalEnergies’ forthcoming AGMs.
Our SATIE framework above shows that your vote is critical in compelling these five supermajors to align their 2030 Scope 3 targets with the Paris Climate Agreement goal as their current targets fall short.
Last week, seventeen leading investors with assets under management of around € 1.1 trillion and green shareholder group Follow This filed a climate resolution for the AGM of TotalEnergies on May 26th.
“As institutional investors, we want to safeguard long-term returns for our beneficiaries,” the seventeen said in a joint press release. “Therefore, we encourage portfolio companies to decarbonize and contribute to the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. Oil majors like TotalEnergies have the scale, capital, and knowledge to help the world transition from fossil fuels to low-carbon energy sources.”
“Although the world has to almost halve emissions by 2030 to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, TotalEnergies refuses to significantly drive down scope 3 emissions this decade,” said Colin Tissen, Advisor Responsible Investment at PGGM Investments in the joint press release.
“Investors need to vote to voice their opinion on [TotalEnergies] strategy,” said Bertille Knuckey, fund manager at Sycomore AM in Responsible Investor.
Media Coverage
- Investors to press TotalEnergies over climate goals | Financial Times (ft.com)
- Investors join activists to press TotalEnergies on climate targets | Reuters
- Activist Investors Seek TotalEnergies AGM Vote to Curb Emissions Further – Bloomberg
- Big investors file ‘consultative’ climate proposal at Total (responsible-investor.com)
This major commitment from seventeen of the world’s most important investors takes the fight against climate breakdown to a new level.
We thank this large coalition of investors for their determination in tackling the climate crisis and hope you will follow their leadership by voting for these resolutions.
The seventeen institutional investors from France, Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK, and the US have € 1.1 trillion assets under management. The consortium consists of Achmea IM, a.s.r. AM, Degroof Petercam AM, Edmond de Rothschild AM, La Banque Postale AM & Tocqueville Finance, La Financière de l’Echiquier, Mandarine Gestion, Man Group, Messieurs Hottinguer & Cie Gestion Privée, MN, Ofi Invest AM, PGGM Investments, Sycomore AM and four other investors that will later make public announcements.
Five climate resolutions
The resolution at TotalEnergies asks the oil major to align its 2030 Scope 3 emissions reduction targets with the Paris Climate Agreement and is similar to those filed for the 2023 AGMs of Shell, BP, ExxonMobil, and Chevron.
To achieve the goal of Paris, the world has to almost halve emissions by 2030, but none of these oil majors have plans to drive down their total emissions this decade. Therefore, we expect that long-term and climate-conscious investors will exercise the most straightforward power they have as shareholders: the power of the vote.
Responsible investors, also those who have relied on engagement without voting in the past, are fully aware that if shareholders do not use their votes in 2023, a unique opportunity to push companies to Paris alignment will be lost and companies will continue to hide behind shareholder support to pursue inadequate climate plans.
