“Look at the long list of car companies and countries that have stated that electric transport ONLY is in the near future; look at the price of renewable infrastructure and batteries dropping,” Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow, and co-author of the report, told Oilprice.com. “This is the classic example of commodities vs. technology.”
Read MoreAndrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow and report co-author, claimed the results show a "Great Transition" is underway towards a low carbon economy.
"Market forces continue to show that the new energy economy is not only a growth sector, but continues to outperform fossil fuel based energy," he said. "Regardless of politics, investors appear to be following the money."
Read MoreJust last week, As You Sow filed a resolution against Chevron urging it to improve methane reporting. Chevron has lagged behind their peers on disclosure and transparency and earned a reputation as one of the more aggressive opponents of commonsense climate rules. EDF is hoping the forthcoming change of leadership will result in the company taking a different tact when it comes to climate.
Read MoreAs You Sow, Boston Common Asset Management and The Investor Environmental Health Network (IEHN) released the 2017 special edition of the Disclosing the Facts scorecard.
Read MoreIt would have been difficult for Exxon to ignore the shareholder vote, said Danielle Fugere, president of As You Sow. "The inevitability of a decarbonizing economy makes it mission critical that Exxon address the risk to its business-as-usual model," she said. "We hope that Exxon's announcement signals a fundamental change in the company's direction on climate change."
Read MoreAlso, Danielle Fugure, president of California nonprofit As You Sow, said last month it withdrew a shareholder resolution calling for a climate risk report from Anadarko Petroleum Corp. In return, she said, the Texas company agreed to continue to work with her group and others to develop methods for reporting on climate risks that would be practical for the company but still convey to investors the full extent of the risks it could face.
Read MoreMeanwhile, carbon asset risk is still on the agenda for Chevron's shareholders this month: the proposal on transition to a low-carbon economy filed by As You Sow will go forward to a vote. As UCS closely monitors Chevron's and ExxonMobil's communications and engagement with concerned shareholders over its climate-related positions and actions, our experts and supporters will be stepping up the pressure on both companies in the lead-up to their annual meetings at the end of May.
Read MoreThe decision by Duke Energy, the largest utility in the US, to switch to a virtual meeting this year, was criticised by As You Sow, a shareholder group that has put a resolution on the agenda demanding information on pollution from its coal-fired power plants.
“They do not want to face the folks they have harmed,” said Danielle Fugere, president of As You Sow. “Our goal is to make the board understand how important these issues are but, if you are so many voices on a webinar, you lose the impact of the message. It feels like they are running away from their shareholders.”
Read More“In many cases, I think businesses disagree with the administration,” said Danielle Fugere, president of As You Sow, a nonprofit group that uses shareholder resolutions to advocate for greater corporate environmental and social responsibility.
Read MoreMore than 70 percent of oil and gas companies engaged in hydraulic fracturing improved their scores on how they report policies to reduce risks from fracking, according to the fourth annualscorecard released Dec. 14 by investor groups As You Sow, Boston Common Asset Management and Investor Environmental Health Network.
Read More"Despite what the administration may or may not do, I really believe that corporations understand the risks posed by climate change," said Danielle Fugere, president of As You Sow, a California nonprofit campaign group. It sponsored 18 climate-related shareholder resolutions in 2016 and expects to file a bigger number next year.
Read More“One of the biggest drivers right now is the potential for decreasing demand,” says Danielle Fugere, president and chief counsel of As You Sow, the nonprofit that wrote both reports. “And that’s driven by climate change… We’re in a decarbonizing economy. That’s one of the flags for companies–are they adjusting to that?”
Read MoreShareholder resolutions filed at Southern Company by an advocacy group, As You Sow, and faith-based investor coalition, the Tri-State Coalition for Responsible Investment (“Tri-State CRI”) sent Southern Company’s Board and management a strong message: to reduce carbon asset risk and align its business with a “2 degrees” climate scenario, according to a press release.
One resolution, by As You Sow, would have required Southern Company to quantify and disclose its “carbon asset risk,” or the potential losses to shareholders from coal operations.
Read More“Folks perceive them to be a leader in the fight against addressing climate change,” said Danielle Fugere, president of the As You Sow nonprofit group, one of several that submitted resolutions to Exxon.
“They are the face of the anti-climate movement. And I think that’s why we see so many resolutions against Exxon,” Fugere said.
Read More“In a carbon-constrained world, what’s going to happen with these companies?” asked Danielle Fugere, president and chief counsel of the activist group As You Sow. “Traditionally, they’ve had to replace their reserves, or the market penalizes them. So how do they make this transition that we think is necessary?”
Chevron’s corporate board, however, has recommended shareholders reject the proposal, calling it unnecessary and confusing. As You Sow, based in Oakland, has presented the same proposal to ExxonMobil shareholders for their annual meeting on Wednesday, with Exxon’s board also opposing the change.
“It would be making a statement that Big Oil is really Big Energy,” said Andrew Behar, As You Sow’s chief executive officer. “When we have conversations with them, they keep saying, ‘No, no, we’re an energy company.’ And we say, ‘But you report in oil.’ You are what you measure.”
As You Sow’s proposal would expand that notion of comparing one resource to another, measuring all of an oil company’s reserves or energy-generating assets in BTUs. (One BTU represents the amount of heat required to increase the temperature of 1 pound of water by 1 degree Fahrenheit.)
Read MoreAs You Sow’s Carbon Asset Transition, or “CAT” resolution, requesting that oil companies’ energy resources be accounted for, by category, in resource-neutral energy units as well as barrels of oil, could have profound implications for the future. It allows oil and gas companies to decouple their asset base from a sole focus on fossil fuel reserves and incentivizes their transition into becoming energy companies ready to thrive in a low carbon economy.
Recognizing that an orderly transition to a clean energy future must be facilitated, As You Sow’s Carbon Asset Transition proposal is a crucial first step: by decoupling traditional oil and gas company value from a sole focus on carbon-based asset replacement, companies will have an opportunity and incentive to become truly diversified energy companies providing large-scale clean energy. In addition to directly engaging companies with this resolution and working with other energy companies on voluntarily reporting in BTUs, As You Sow will also file a petition with the SEC. The petition will request the SEC add an energy-neutral metric to its current reporting requirement for oil and gas companies. Such a change would help free these companies from their oilcentric focus, which made sense historically but whose time is now past.
Read MoreShareholders have filed 94 proposals tied to climate change as of February, a 15 percent bump from the 82 proposals filed in 2015, according to a recent report by the groups As You Sow, Proxy Impact and Sustainable Investments Institute.
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One resolution, supported by the Oakland-based nonprofit advocacy group As You Sow, requested that the company report its energy resources in terms of BTUs, a scientifically-recognized measurement of energy, rather than in terms of “barrels of oil equivalent.” What this does is level the playing field by treating all forms of energy, including renewables, as essentially interchangeable.
Danielle Fugere, As You Sow’s president and chief counsel, pleased with the SEC ruling, said: “Exxon must allow shareholders to vote on this first step on the path toward clean energy. Broad support will give management the latitude to develop a diverse and profitable low-carbon business plan, while maintaining 100 percent BTU energy replacements.”
As You Sow also filed a petition with the SEC to change this metric for the entire industry.
Read More“We are pleased the SEC sided with shareholders concerned with climate risk," said Danielle Fugere, As You Sow's president and chief counsel. “Exxon must allow shareholders to vote on this first step on the path toward clean energy. Broad support will give management the latitude to develop a diverse and profitable low carbon business plan, while maintaining 100 percent BTU energy replacements."
In response to Exxon's SEC bid to stop the resolution from being voted on by shareholders, As You Sow successfully argued that, “... in a rapidly decarbonizing economy, fossil fuel companies must develop climate change-responsive business models" and one possible path is to transition into energy companies not dependent on carbon intense, climate damaging commodities.
Exxon currently accounts for its energy assets in “barrels of oil equivalent." As You Sow noted in its SEC reply that this accounting measure discourages a low carbon transition by linking the calculation of a company's assets, and therefore its value, to carbon based-metrics.
As You Sow is simultaneously filing a petition with the SEC to change its reporting requirements to an energy neutral metric, which will free the oil industry as a whole from oil-dependent financial valuation.
Read MoreShareholder Advocate, As You Sow, Defeats Exxon on Push for Climate-Friendly Accounting
Exxon currently accounts for its energy assets in "barrels of oil equivalent." As You Sow noted in its SEC reply, that this accounting measure discourages a low carbon transition by linking the calculation of a company's assets, and therefore its value, to carbon based-metrics. The resolution proposes reporting company energy resources neutrally, by category, so that all resources – including solar, wind, biofuels, geothermal, and other renewables -- will be accounted for as BTUs and valued. This metric decouples Exxon and its shareholders from oil's declining profitability, its escalating climate damage, and Exxon's decreasing ability to economically replace its oil reserves.
As You Sow is simultaneously filing a petition with the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) to change its reporting requirements to an energy neutral metric, which will free the oil industry as a whole from oil-dependent financial valuation.
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