據(jù)5月11日CNBC報道,未來綠色發(fā)展轉(zhuǎn)型對石油巨頭來說是開創(chuàng)性的。大西洋兩岸的石油和天然氣巨頭正準(zhǔn)備在未來幾周舉行年度股東大會。目前,世界上最大的排放國正面臨巨大壓力,要求它們制定與《巴黎協(xié)定》相符的短期、中期和長期排放目標(biāo)。
在近200個國家批準(zhǔn)具有里程碑意義的氣候協(xié)議5年多之后,目前還沒有一家油氣公司符合巴黎氣候協(xié)定的減排目標(biāo)或投資水平。眾所周知,該協(xié)議對于避免不可逆轉(zhuǎn)的氣候危機(jī)至關(guān)重要。
挪威國家石油公司(Equinor)和美國石油生產(chǎn)商康菲石油公司(ConocoPhillips)于周二舉行年度股東大會。英國石油公司(BP)和美國煉油商Phillips 66的年度股東大會于周三舉行,美國石油巨頭雪佛龍(Chevron)的年度股東大會將于5月26日舉行。此外,英荷石油巨頭荷蘭皇家殼牌公司將于5月18日向其股東公布其“凈零”過渡計劃,這在業(yè)內(nèi)屬首次。雖然這一所謂的咨詢投票不具約束力,但在能源行業(yè)對化石燃料頑固依賴的擔(dān)憂日益加深之際,可能受到能源行業(yè)內(nèi)外人士的密切關(guān)注。
持有多家大型石油公司股份的荷蘭Follow This集團(tuán)將在殼牌年度股東大會上提出另一項動議,敦促投資者利用他們的代理機(jī)構(gòu),與他們一起投票,迫使公司緊急改變發(fā)展方向。
作為近年來能源巨頭的眼中釘,F(xiàn)ollow This也鼓勵投資者投票反對殼牌的轉(zhuǎn)型戰(zhàn)略,稱該公司的氣候計劃力度“嚴(yán)重不足”。作為回應(yīng),殼牌發(fā)言人表示:“這個決議是多余的,因為殼牌選擇公布自己的決議,該決議全面闡述了其能源轉(zhuǎn)型戰(zhàn)略。包括明確和可衡量的短期、中期和長期目標(biāo),比Follow This要求的更長遠(yuǎn),因此我們的股東可以絕對清楚殼牌承諾提供的到底是什么。”
殼牌表示,它建議股東投票反對Follow This的決議,把注意力集中在殼牌更詳細(xì)的提案上,這將有助于推動公司向前發(fā)展。
年初,殼牌公布的能源轉(zhuǎn)型戰(zhàn)略概述了該公司到2050年實現(xiàn)凈零排放的計劃。該計劃的目標(biāo)是到2023年,排放量比2016年減少6%至8%。到2030年,這一目標(biāo)將上升到20%,到2035年上升到45%,到2050年上升到100%。
殼牌沒有承諾到2030年的絕對排放目標(biāo),氣候活動人士和投資者也沒有忽視這一點。Follow This的負(fù)責(zé)人馬克·范·巴爾(Mark van Baal)指出:“這一點事關(guān)重大。基本上,該公司是在像往常一樣要求股東授權(quán)。我們提醒股東,殼牌的氣候目標(biāo)需要與《巴黎協(xié)定》相一致。”
Follow This此前曾有四次嘗試鼓勵投資者在殼牌的年度股東大會上投票支持他們的氣候決議,但都以失敗告終。Follow This ' s van Baal表示,他相信本月末會有更大比例的選民支持他們的提案。
2016年,在殼牌年度股東大會上,只有2.7%的投資者支持Follow This的氣候動議。然而,van Baal稱,到2020年,這個數(shù)字已經(jīng)上升到14.4%:“我認(rèn)為選票比例會再次上升。我們現(xiàn)在歐洲有確鑿的證據(jù)表明,石油巨頭只有在有參與投票的情況下才會行動,不然一切都只是空話,沒有任何結(jié)果。”
殼牌曾表示,將每三年發(fā)布一次戰(zhàn)略更新,直至2050年。從2022年起,還將每年就其計劃和目標(biāo)的進(jìn)展進(jìn)行咨詢投票。
4月底資產(chǎn)管理公司嘉盛萊寶(Sarasin & Partners)表示,計劃在5月18日投票反對殼牌的過渡計劃,稱“不可能知道”該計劃是否可信或經(jīng)濟(jì)上是否可行。嘉盛萊寶表示,將支持Follow This的提議。
與此同時,據(jù)路透社報道,英國地方當(dāng)局養(yǎng)老基金論壇也計劃反對殼牌的氣候戰(zhàn)略。該論壇的82個成員管理著超過3000億英鎊(4230億美元)的資產(chǎn)。
另外,衛(wèi)理公會在4月30日向《金融時報》(the Financial Times)表示,殼牌對氣候危機(jī)的應(yīng)對“不夠”有力,因此將其股票全部售罄。然而,殼牌的另一個投資者,英國教會養(yǎng)老金委員會,可能會在本月末支持該公司的氣候計劃。
英國教會養(yǎng)老金委員會首席投資官亞當(dāng)?馬修斯表示:“我們認(rèn)為,支持這一戰(zhàn)略是恰當(dāng)?shù)模@表明我們希望看到公司繼續(xù)發(fā)展自己的戰(zhàn)略規(guī)劃。未來幾年,我們?nèi)詫⒖吹焦具M(jìn)一步披露一些領(lǐng)域。我們相信,我們與該公司進(jìn)行的接觸和對話也會達(dá)成某種成果。”
當(dāng)被問及采取這種方法是否能有效地為殼牌自己的氣候計劃服務(wù),而不是鼓勵他們?yōu)閼?yīng)對氣候變化做更多的工作時,馬修斯回答:“不,老實說,我實際上認(rèn)為恰恰相反。這代表了殼牌現(xiàn)在的狀況。它已經(jīng)制定了清晰的計劃,第一次明確了過渡的方式,并要求股東表示支持,我們愿意提供這種支持,但我們承認(rèn),因為我們正在與他們進(jìn)行對話,所以我們期待該計劃得到進(jìn)一步發(fā)展。”
CEPB表示,鑒于殼牌近年來取得的進(jìn)展,它認(rèn)為沒有必要對Follow This提出的氣候決議投贊成票。然而,CEPB確實計劃在其他“進(jìn)展不那么明顯”的公司支持Follow This決議。
除了CEPB,馬修斯還與殼牌共同牽頭參與了氣候行動100+投資集團(tuán)(Climate Action 100+investor group),該組織代表著資產(chǎn)約54萬億美元的投資者。
王佳晶 摘譯自 CNBC
原文如下:
Big Oil and its green ambitions could be about to get a serious reality check
Oil and gas majors on both sides of the Atlantic are preparing to hold their annual shareholder meetings in the coming weeks. It comes at a time when the world’s largest corporate emitters are under immense pressure to set short, medium and long-term emissions targets that are consistent with the Paris Agreement.
At present, not a single oil and gas company is aligned with Paris-consistent emission reduction targets or investment levels more than five years after the landmark climate accord was ratified by nearly 200 countries. The agreement is widely recognized as critically important to avoid an irreversible climate crisis.
Norway’s Equinor and U.S. oil producer ConocoPhillips will hold their respective annual shareholder meetings on Tuesday. The annual general meetings of the U.K.’s BP and U.S. refiner Phillips 66 will take place on Wednesday, with U.S. oil major Chevron due to hold its AGM on May 26.
In a first for the industry, Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch Shell will put its own net-zero transition plan to its shareholders on May 18. The so-called advisory vote, while non-binding, is likely to be closely monitored by those inside and outside the energy sector amid deepening concern about the industry’s stubborn dependency on fossil fuels.
Dutch group Follow This, a small activist investor with stakes in a number of Big Oil companies, is due to put forward a separate motion at Shell’s AGM, urging investors to leverage their agency and vote with them to compel the firm to urgently change course.
A thorn in the side of energy majors in recent years, Follow This has also encouraged investors to vote against Shell’s transition strategy, describing the firm’s climate plan as “gravely inadequate.”
In response, a Shell spokesperson told CNBC on Tuesday: “The Follow This resolution is redundant given Shell has chosen to publish its own resolution which comprehensively details its energy transition strategy.”
“It includes well defined and measurable short, medium and long-term targets which go further than that requested by Follow This, so our shareholders can be absolutely clear on what Shell is committing to deliver,” they added.
Shell said it recommends that shareholders vote against the Follow This resolution “and focus attention instead on the more detailed proposal from Shell which will help move the company forwards.”
‘Engagement is just talk without consequences’
Shell’s Energy Transition Strategy, published earlier this year, outlined the group’s plans to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. It aims to reduce net carbon emissions by between 6% to 8% by 2023 when compared to 2016 levels. The target jumps up to 20% by 2030, 45% by 2035, and 100% by 2050.
Shell has not committed to Paris-aligned targets for absolute emissions through to 2030, an omission that has not gone unnoticed by climate activists and investors.
“There is a lot at stake,” Mark van Baal, head of Follow This, told CNBC via telephone.
“Basically, the company is asking for a shareholder mandate for business as usual. We are asking for shareholders to recognize the need for Shell’s climate targets to align with the Paris Agreement,” he said.
Reflecting on four previously unsuccessful attempts to encourage investors to vote for their climate resolutions at Shell’s AGMs, Follow This’ van Baal said he was confident a larger proportion of voters would back their proposal later this month.
In 2016, just 2.7% of investors supported Follow This’ climate motion at Shell’s AGM. However, by 2020, van Baal said this figure had climbed to 14.4%.
“I think the percentage of votes will grow again,” he said, arguing that a “growing minority” of voters had previously been enough to serve as a catalyst for change.
“We have now quite hard proof in Europe that oil majors only move when there’s engagement and voting. Engagement is just talk without consequences,” van Baal said.
Shell has said it will publish an update to its strategy every three years through to 2050. It will also seek an advisory vote on its progress toward its plans and targets every year from 2022.
‘A representation of where Shell is today’
Asset manager Sarasin & Partners said late last month that it plans to vote against Shell’s transition plan on May 18, saying “it is impossible to know” whether it is credible or economically feasible. Sarasin & Partners said it would support Follow This’ proposal.
Meanwhile, the U.K.’s Local Authority Pension Fund Forum, whose 82 members manage over £300 billion ($423 billion), also plan to oppose Shell’s climate strategy, Reuters reported.
Separately, the Methodist Church sold out of Shell over what it described to The Financial Times on April 30 as the firm’s “inadequate” response to the climate crisis.
However, another Shell investor, the Church of England’s Pension Board, is likely to support the firm’s climate plan later this month.
“We reached a view that it was appropriate to support the strategy to indicate that we want to see the company continue to develop its approach and recognizing that there are still areas that we would expect to see further disclosures on from the company in the coming years,” Adam Matthews, chief responsible investment officer of the Church of England Pensions Board, told CNBC.
“We are confident that the engagement and the dialogue that we have with the company to participate in that will sort of bear fruit as well,” he added.
When asked whether taking this approach would effectively serve to rubber stamp Shell’s own climate plans rather than encourage them to do more to tackle climate change, Matthews replied: “No, to be honest, I actually think it is quite the opposite.”
“This is a representation of where Shell is today. It has set out clarity around the way it is approaching the transition for the first time, it has asked for an indication of support for that from its shareholder base and we are willing to provide that support, but with an acknowledgment that we would expect further evolution of that plan as a result of the dialogue that we are having with them.”
The CEPB has said that in light of the progress it believes Shell has made in recent years, it does not see a need to vote in favor of the climate resolution put forward by Follow This. The CEPB does, however, plan to support Follow This resolutions at other companies “where progress is not so obvious.”
In addition to the CEPB, Matthews is also co-lead on engagement with Shell for the Climate Action 100+ investor group, which represents investors with assets of around $54 trillion.
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