A group of shareholders of the hydrocarbon giant Shell will present to the general meeting a resolution aimed at forcing the group to define a target for reducing its emissions in accordance with the Paris Agreement.
Twenty-seven investors, including the European asset management giant Amundi, representing a total of €3.9 trillion in Shell shares, are mobilizing 3.4% of the large multinational’s capital to support this climate resolution, according to a press release published Monday by the shareholder activist organization Follow This, at the origin of this initiative.
Follow This had already proposed a climate resolution to the shareholder vote at the general meeting in May 2023. It received 20% of the votes in favor.
Align your goals with the Paris Agreement
The text provides for letting the board of directors develop a strategy to achieve these objectives.
By involving 27 investors in presenting the resolution, Follow This founder Mark Van Baal hopes that other shareholders will follow suit and vote in favor of the text. For him, “large shareholders hold the key to confronting the climate crisis thanks to their votes at general meetings,” whose date for Shell’s meeting is not yet known.
A “step back” in terms of climate action
For Shell’s board of directors, the Follow This resolution, almost identical to last year’s, is “unrealistic and simplistic”, would have “negative consequences for [ses] consumers” and would be “contrary to the interests of the company and [ses] shareholders”.
An update of the energy transition strategy
For its part, Shell indicates that the group will publish an update of its energy transition strategy in early 2024.
Last June, Shell announced that its oil production would remain “stable” until 2030, while the group had presented reduction targets of 1 to 2% annually in 2021.
Its general director, Wael Sawan, estimated a month later that reducing current hydrocarbon production would be “dangerous and irresponsible” and could cause bills to skyrocket again. He also said the world still “desperately needs oil and gas” because the shift to renewable energy was not fast enough to replace them.
Source: BFM TV
