BP to Consider Climate Resolution from Activist Investors for 2019 AGM

By Oliver Griffin

BP PLC (BP.LN) said Monday that it will carefully review a climate resolution put forward for consideration at its 2019 annual general meeting by activist investors who have previously tabled similar votes at meetings of Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB.LN).

The U.K. oil-and-gas company was responding to a resolution filed by Follow This, a Dutch activist-investor group, which is calling on BP to set and publish targets in line with goals set by the 2016 Paris Climate Agreement.

The resolution asks shareholders to support BP in aligning its interests with the Paris agreement and to invest in the transition to a net zero-emission energy system. This includes emissions from energy products used by BP's customers.

A spokesperson for BP said it is now verifying that the resolution has the correct shareholder support and that the company is in touch with Follow This.

"We will consider the resolution carefully and make a response and recommendation to our shareholders as part of our Notice of Meeting prior to the AGM," the spokesperson said.

While this is the first time that Follow This has filed such a resolution for consideration at BP's annual general meeting, the group said it plans to file the motion for a fourth time with Anglo-Dutch company Shell.

Follow This is a group of 4,300 green shareholders which collectively owns around 20 million shares in Shell. At Shell's 2018 annual general meeting around 12.5% of shareholders--including a number of large Dutch investors and the Church of England--supported or abstained when the motion was put to shareholders last year.

Follow This said it plans to file the same resolution for consideration at the annual general meetings of Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and Chevron Corp. (CVX), unless other groups file a similar resolution first.

Follow This founder, Mark van Baal, said the success of climate resolutions is evidenced by Shell, which last week pledged to set short-term carbon-emissions targets and link them to executive pay.

Mr. Van Baal said: "Paris [Agreement] targets should be on the agenda of every oil company, given that the oil industry can make or break the Paris Climate Agreement."

Write to Oliver Griffin at [e-mail]; @OliGGriffin

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 10, 2018 11:03 ET (16:03 GMT)

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