Pursuant to the 2014 Business Resolution on Fossil Fuel Divestment, the UUA retains investments in major fossil fuel companies for the purposes of shareholder advocacy on environmental justice and the clean energy transition. (Read the 2018 Treasurer’s report on implementation of the Business Resolution here).
Corporate annual meetings are a key forum for shareholder advocacy — and most fossil fuel companies hold their meetings in the spring. The UUA was well represented this year! in May, UUA Socially Responsible Investing Committee Chair Kathy Mulvey attended the ExxonMobil annual meeting on the UUA’s proxy for the third year in a row. The UUA also designated one of Kathy’s colleagues at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), Ortal Ullman, as its representative for the Chevron annual meeting. And the UUA’s ownership stake in ConocoPhillips enabled Kathy to participate and submit a question in the webcast of that company’s annual meeting. All three of these companies are in the focus list of the Climate Action 100+
Leading up to and following these shareholder meetings, UCS published a series of blogs. Please read and share widely.
- 2°C or not 2°C? Unanswered Questions in ExxonMobil’s and Chevron’s Climate Risk Reports. Shareholders should not be satisfied with these companies’ reports published in response to investor demands that they disclose their plans for a world in which global temperature increase is kept well below 2°C.
- Shareholders Not Playing Games at Big Oil Annual General Meetings. In the midst of annual meeting season, major fossil fuel companies are facing growing pressure from investors to address the risks of legal liability for climate damages, as well as growing scrutiny of corporate lobbying and political spending.
- Former ExxonMobil Engineer Says Oil and Gas Companies Can and Should Plan to Be Part of the Solution to Climate Change. Former ExxonMobil environmental engineer Bill Hafker believes that oil and gas companies should be transparent and active in identifying meaningful climate action and incorporating climate planning into their business strategy.
- Experts ask Exxon and Chevron to Stop Climate Deception and to Act to Protect Human Health. UCS spoke with three early career scientists on what they would ask ExxonMobil or Chevron if they had two minutes at the mic at an annual meeting. Have questions you want to ask? Share them on Facebook and Twitter using #ExxonAGM or #ChevronAGM.
- ExxonMobil Refuses to Give Scientists the Floor: Reflections from a Corporate Shareholders’ Meeting. Dr. Robert Forbis, energy and environmental policy expert from Texas Tech University, reporting from ExxonMobil’s meeting.
- Will Chevron Show Leadership in Climate Solutions? Notes From the 2018 Shareholders’ Meeting. Dr. Tessa Hill, ocean acidification and marine science expert from the University of California at Davis, reporting from Chevron’s meeting.