(London) The British hydrocarbon giant BP won the majority of votes at its general meeting on Thursday, despite a significant share of shareholders protesting against its decision to slow down its energy transition, or its compensation plan.
The general meeting, which was being held in London, was disrupted from the start by activists from the NGO Fossil Free London repeatedly interrupting speeches by group chairman Helge Lund and chief executive Bernard Looney, to demonstrate their opposition to the company’s carbon neutral strategy.
“2050 is far too far, we must act now”, launched an activist to the leader, judging that the group’s climate objectives were “not sufficient”.
“Stop drilling for fossil fuels,” another chimed in. Security brought out several activists, and the general assembly continued on Thursday afternoon.
Some of the largest pension funds in the United Kingdom had for their part warned that they were going to oppose the renewal of the mandate of Helge Lund at the end of the general meeting.
In the end, the attempt by three pension funds to block the re-election of the chairman of the board failed, gathering only 9.57% of the votes.
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, received just 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.
Chief Executive Bernard Looney said he was “delighted with the overwhelming support received with today’s votes”.
Mark van Baal, founder of Follow This, claimed the group was “misleading shareholders” by presenting its plans for energy transitions as in line with the goals of the Paris agreement.
BP announced in February, on the sidelines of record results, that it intended to boost its profits by 2030 by investing more both in renewable energies, but also in hydrocarbons, slowing the pace of its energy transition.
Greenpeace, which a year earlier praised “the most ambitious of the oil giants” for its transition, then castigated commitments “undermined by pressure from investors and governments”.
Among the pension funds that wanted to vote against Mr. Lund’s reappointment, the Nest pension fund said that “if BP continues on this trajectory, we have serious concerns that they will meet their carbon neutral target and on the long-term success of the business”.
The fund called for investment “more in low-carbon solutions and renewables, rather than new oil and gas sites.”
Brunel, another pension fund, had also indicated that he would vote against the renewal of the president of BP.
Follow This believes that a “carbon neutrality target for 2050 is insufficient”, and asks the group to align its emissions reduction targets for 2030 with those of the Paris agreement – which aims to limit global warming by below two degrees and if possible at 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 board acknowledged in a response to that resolution, noting that the board “considers (its climate strategy) broadly consistent with the Paris objectives”.
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.
