The Securities and Exchange Commission granted requests by Chevron Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp. to again reject a shareholder proposal calling for reports on how the companies are addressing climate change goals. Similar proposals filed last year were also allowed to be excluded for Exxon after its challenge.
A document on the agency website noted briefly that SEC staff agreed March 20 with requests by company officials to exclude proposals from a group of shareholders, including the Church of England and As You Sow, asking if the companies will join other oil and gas companies in taking steps to align with the Paris Agreement goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, and calling for reduction targets, long-term business plans and other details.
"That suggests to me that the SEC doesn't fully understand the issues on climate reporting we have requested," As You Sow President Danielle Fugere said in an interview. The shareholder group called current reporting by Exxon and Chevron "confusing at best," and Ms. Fugere said that the companies "are misleading investors by suggesting that they align" with the Paris goals.
Sanford Lewis, an attorney for the shareholders' group, said that SEC staff have made it more difficult for shareholders to file climate change-related proposals at major oil companies by interpreting them as micromanaging, which allows the companies to be less specific in their reporting.
