The British oil and gas giant BP won the majority of votes at its annual general meeting on Thursday, despite a notable share of shareholders taking issue with its decision to slow down its energy transition, or its remuneration plan.
The general meeting, held in London, was disrupted from the start by activists from the NGO Fossil Free London who repeatedly interrupted the speeches of group chairman Helge Lund and CEO Bernard Looney to demonstrate their opposition to the company’s carbon neutrality strategy. “2050 is far too far away, we must act now,” an activist told the executive, saying that the group’s climate targets were “not enough. “Stop drilling for fossil fuels,” another said.
Security removed several activists, and the general assembly continued Thursday afternoon. Some of the UK’s largest pension funds had warned that they would oppose the reappointment of Helge Lund after the general meeting.
In the end, the attempt by three pension funds to block the re-election of the board chairman failed, garnering only 9.57% of the vote. Another shareholder resolution proposed by activist shareholder organization Follow This, which would have forced BP to revise its energy transition plans to make them more ambitious, garnered only 16.75% of the total vote.
Meanwhile, nearly one in five shareholders, or 18.05% of shareholders, voted against the executive compensation plan, despite the group’s record profits, according to preliminary voting results. Executive Director Bernard Looney said he was “delighted with the overwhelming support received with today’s votes.” Mark van Baal, founder of Follow This, said the group was “misleading shareholders” by presenting its energy transitions plans as in line with the goals of the Paris agreement.
BP had announced in February, on the sidelines of record results, that it intended to boost its profits by 2030 by investing more in both renewable energy and hydrocarbons, slowing the pace of its energy transition.
“Serious concerns”
Greenpeace, which a year earlier had praised “the most ambitious of the oil giants” for its transition, had then criticized commitments “undermined by pressure from investors and governments”. Among the pension funds that wanted to vote against Lund’s reappointment, the Nest pension fund had said that “if BP continues on this trajectory, we have serious concerns about whether they will meet their carbon neutrality goal and the long-term success of the company.”
The fund called for investments “more in low-carbon solutions and renewables, rather than new oil and gas sites.” Brunel, another pension fund, had also indicated that it would vote against the reappointment of BP’s president.
Follow This believes that a “carbon neutrality target for 2050 is insufficient,” and calls on the group to align its 2030 emissions reduction targets with those of the Paris Agreement – which aims to limit global warming to below two degrees and if possible to 1.5°C compared to the period 1850-1900.
“We recognize that some shareholders and other stakeholders may have different views on the decisions we make,” the BoD had acknowledged in a response to the resolution, stating that the board “considers (its climate strategy) broadly consistent with the Paris goals.”
During the conference, Mr. Looney defended the new strategy by saying that it was not about renewables or hydrocarbons, but both at the same time.
