ExxonMobil and Chevron shareholders voted against 10 of 11 climate-change proposals at their annual meetings today.
While Exxon investors shot down a proposal to put a climate expert on the board, they did approve a so-called proxy access measure to allow minority investors to nominate board members. This means a climate activist could potentially become a director.
This proxy access measure was the first Exxon shareholder proposal since 2006 to be approved, according to Reuters. More than 60 percent of the oil giant’s investors backed this proposal, which was defeated last year.
Other climate-related proposal rejected by Exxon investors included ones to require the company to report on how climate change would affect its business and endorse the Paris climate agreement.
Exxon management opposed all of the proposals and urged shareholders to reject them.
The company’s annual meeting comes as Exxon is under investigation by several state attorney generals for possibly lying to the public and investors about climate change risks.
Chevron investors also voted down a proposal asking the company to disclose its climate change risk, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Chevron told investors that the proposal was unnecessary because Chevron already factors in a theoretical future carbon price when making project decisions. “We don’t think this proposal will advance our thinking,” Chevron chief executive John Watson told the newspaper.
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