Engine No. 1 has claimed another victory in its fight to influence board decisions at Exxon! The climate-minded organization has gained a third board seat at the oil giant.
Engine No. 1 is an activist company that has had its sites on Exxon for the corporation’s strong reliance on fossil fuels since December of last year. And at the Texas-based oil company’s annual shareholders meeting that took place on May 26th, the activist firm managed to gain two board seats at once. The third seat vote was too close to call at the time, hence why it was made known a week later.
As a result, today Engine No. 1 owns 0.02% of Exxon, and its aim is to influence the company’s attitude and role in the movement towards a no-carbon world.
The climate angle isn’t the only at play here, according to the Wall Street Journal. Exxon’s board has been accused of being out of touch with investor concerns about the risks in a world that might be changing not only in terms of planetary, but also business climate.
Still, this is a significant victory for Engine No. 1, as the firm has been in a back-and-forth battle for board seats for months now. The activist company came out with four candidate nominations, which gained it the backing of several major pension funds.
With that in mind, Exxon isn’t entirely opposed to change and is making steps of its own towards a zero-carbon future. One such step, for example, is its $3 billion investment in research of carbon capture and other technologies designed to reduce CO2 emissions.
The company’s stock has risen a whopping 50% since the beginning of the year, which is a strong indication that it’s initiative to diversify its activity and move away from fossil fuels is well-received.
