The Securities and Exchange Commission ruled March 22 that ExxonMobil must allow shareholders to vote on a climate change resolution, pleasing groups that advocate socially responsible investing.
The SEC said the company must allow stockholders to vote on a series of resolutions analyzing the financial impact of the company’s climate change policies, rejecting ExxonMobil’s argument the resolution is overly vague and that the company has already met the proposal’s principal request.
The decision pleased members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, which includes the American Baptist Home Mission Societies. Last month the group submitted a stockholder resolution calling on ExxonMobil to address climate change.
“This critical moral imperative climate resolution will provide ExxonMobil shareholders a significant proxy voting opportunity to address global warming risks as part of overall corporate strategy,” said David Moore director of investments for the national ministries arm of American Baptist Churches USA. “ExxonMobil should define its vision for a sustainable climate future beyond the next quarter’s returns.”
Attorneys general in more than 20 states are currently investigating whether ExxonMobil misled the public and investors about climate change risks related to fossil fuel consumption. Last fall the Los Angeles Times published a story saying Exxon scientists were warning as early as 1991 about the potential negative impacts of global warming on the company’s arctic drilling operations.
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