Border to Coast Pensions Partnership, Leeds, England, will vote against the re-election of several board members at oil and gas giant BP at this year’s annual general meeting, according to a news release.
Border to Coast is a pool of local government pension schemes in the north of England, and had £48 billion ($62.4 billion) in assets as of Oct. 31.
In February, BP announced it would increase its investments in oil and gas by about 20% to $10 billion a year while reducing investment in renewable energy projects. In 2020, BP had pledged to cut production of oil and gas by 40% by 2030, and then lowered this target to 25% in 2023.
BP’s AGM is scheduled for April 17. At the event, as a direct response to BP’s revision of it climate targets, Border to Coast pledged to vote against the re-election of four of the 12 board directors, including Chair Helge Lund.
Also opposing Lund’s re-election is the 1,147 billion Norwegian kroner ($107.5 billion) Kommunal Landspensjonskasse, Oslo; the £49 billion National Employment Savings Trust, London; the £30 billion LGPS Central, Wolverhampton, England; and the Danish kroner 337 billion ($51.2 billion) Sampension, Hellerup, Denmark. However, Lund has already announced his intention to step down in 2026.
Border to Coast emphasized that a majority of shareholders supported BP’s transition plan at its 2022 AGM, which has since been weakened twice without renewing that shareholder mandate. BP has also been subject to collaborative engagement from members of the climate initiative Climate Action 100+, yet according to Border to Coast, BP has not yet adopted adequate net-zero targets and decarbonization plans.
"We are taking the unprecedented step of voting against BP on a raft of measures at its upcoming AGM due to its failure to put its strategy reset to a shareholder vote," said Colin Baines, stewardship manager at Border to Coast, in the news release. “We call on BP to publish a comprehensive transition plan that details how it will achieve its 2050 net-zero target post-2030 and put it to a vote at the 2026 AGM, to address the very real concerns of shareholders.”
Border to Coast has previously pledged to vote against the board chairs of oil and gas companies that fail to fully meet the first five indicators of the Climate Action 100+ net-zero benchmark, which includes short-, medium-, and long-term emission-reduction targets, and a decarbonization strategy.
BP couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
