Stockholm (NordSIP) – According to Follow This, an Amsterdam-based grassroots non-profit organisation that helps shareholders file climate resolutions at AGMs, twenty-seven institutional investors co-filed a climate resolution at Shell demanding the company align its medium-term emissions reduction targets with the Paris Climate Agreement.
The group of 27 co-filing investors includes organisations from Belgium, France, the Netherlands, the UK, the USA, Sweden, and Switzerland, which oversee €3.9 trillion in assets under management and who collectively own around 5% of Shell’s stock.
“This extraordinary step shows how dedicated these investors are to tackling the climate crisis at its source,” says Mark van Baal, founder of Follow This. “This escalation of 27 leading investors puts the call for emissions reductions by energy companies front and center for all institutional investors.”
Signatories include Amundi and Sweden’s AP3 and AP4 publish pension funds, but also Scottish Widows, Candriam, the Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management (EDRAM) Brunel Pension Partnership, Greater Manchester Pension Fund, London CIV, the Ethos Foundation, and Emmi-Vorsargestiftung , among others.
“We are realizing the need for fossil fuel in the short-term horizon and we support the idea of integrated energy companies transitioning their business models,” a representative for AP4 noted.
No Change in 2023
Follow This has been submitting climate-related motions to Shell’s AGM since 2016. The latest shareholder motion was motivated by the impression that Shell did not improve its climate targets during 2023 and that the new CEO appeared to be reversing course on climate action.
Following consultation with large investors, the yearly climate resolution was revised. The essence, Paris-aligned emissions reduction targets, remains. The key differences relative to last year’s motion is that ‘2030 target’ was replaced by ‘medium-term targets’ and the supporting statement was completely rewritten to reflect investor requests for a more agnostic text that is solely focused on emissions.
Thus, motion signatories demand Shell align its medium-term emissions reduction targets covering the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the use of its energy products (Scope 3) with the goal of the Paris Climate Agreement: to limit global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C.
“We expect votes to increase as more investors follow their leading peers by voting for change at Shell, which is the bare minimum they can do,” says Van Baal. In 2023, 20% of shareholders voted in favor of the Follow This climate resolution.“Large shareholders hold the key to tackling the climate crisis with their votes at shareholders’ meetings. Shell will only change if more shareholders vote for change. The resolution is designed to give Shell a shareholder mandate to drive the energy transition.”
