Immediately three oil companies Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron, which are among the largest in the world, lost this week in disputes with eco -activists about their own development plans, writes Financial Times.
For Shell, a serious blow was defeated in the Hague in the dispute with the ecological organization Friends of the Earth (“Friends of the Earth”). On Wednesday, May 26, the court ruled that the company is obliged to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 45 percent, since it is responsible for climate change.
In addition to directly influence on the company, a precedent was created for the first time, where the court influenced the corporate emission strategy. Such a situation can lead to new claims and, presumably, defeat polluting companies.
Chevron shareholders for the first time, most votes approved the company’s management requirement to establish specific goals on indirect emissions. We are talking about processes that belong to the work of the Company, but are not controlled directly. For example, the production of materials that it uses, or associated with travel employees.
For Exxon Mobil, the problem was supporting shareholders at the annual meeting of the ideas of the ENGINE NO Activist Ideas 1. The Board of Directors, as follows from the preliminary calculations, passed at least two of the four candidates offered by the Foundation.
ENGINE NO 1 Foundation owns Exxon Mobil’s shares worth 54 million dollars. The company spent $ 35 million to combat his activity, but to no avail. The general director of the oil giant Darren Woods recognized the defeat and noted that the company heard the wishes of climate risks expressed by shareholders.