British Columbia Investment Management Corp., Victoria, has filed a shareholder proposal that calls for Canadian petroleum firm Imperial Oil Ltd. to increase disclosures on climate risk.
BCI described the proposal as "the first climate-related shareholder proposal filed by a large Canadian public sector pension investment manager going to a vote at a Canadian company," according to a Sunday release.
BCI noted it is the sole filer on the proposal, which will be presented at Imperial Oil's annual general meeting on Tuesday.
Specifically, the proposal requests Imperial's board to "provide an audited report estimating the impacts of the International Energy Agency Net Zero by 2050 pathway on all asset retirement obligations by February 2024," the release noted.
However, according to the proxy circular issued by Imperial for its annual meeting, the company's board recommended that shareholders vote against BCI's proposal.
"Disclosure of accounting assumptions related to climate change and the energy transition is a fast-emerging shareholder expectation," said Jennifer Coulson, senior managing director and global head-ESG at BCI, in the release. "We require transparent accounting disclosure in financial statements to make informed investment decisions, including visibility over off-balance sheet liabilities, and Imperial Oil has not provided sufficient information."
BCI also noted that it will vote against "key directors" of Imperial at the upcoming meeting.
BCI had C$211.1 billion ($169.1 billion) in assets under management as of March 31, 2022. A spokesman for BCI said by email that as of March 31, 2022, BCI owned approximately C$18.1 million of Imperial Oil shares.
Imperial Oil officials could not be immediately reached for further details.
