'Major Progress' Seen on Key Climate, Independent Chair Votes at ExxonMobil Annual Meeting
28 Mai 2008 - 11:01PM
PR Newswire (US)
Filers of 5 Resolutions on Climate, Separation of CEO/Chair Comment
on Outcome DALLAS, May 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Shareholder
advocates received substantial support today on a range of "hot
button" items on the proxy at the Exxon Mobil Corporation
(NYSE:XOM) annual meeting. Votes were cast on five key resolutions
focused on climate change issues and the separation of the
ExxonMobil CEO and chair of the board. The support levels ensure
that shareholders got the attention of management and can return
next year to reintroduce the issues, if the company has not yet
addressed them. The four climate-related resolutions requested that
the board develop a comprehensive greenhouse gas emission reduction
target (item #15 on proxy/lead proponent - Sisters of St. Dominic
of Caldwell); create a task force to investigate the consequences
of climate change on business models in emerging markets (item
#17/lead proponent -- Neva Rockefeller Goodwin); report on how it
will become an industry leader in developing technologies to create
energy independence in the U.S. (item #18/lead proponent -- Michael
Crosby); and adopt a policy to expand renewable energy R&D and
sourcing (item #19/lead proponent -- Stephen Viederman). Proxy item
#5 - calling for an independent chairman at ExxonMobil - was filed
by Robert A.G. Monks, a noted shareholder advocate, founder of ISS
and co-founder of The Corporate Library. Commenting on the vote,
Monks said: "This is the day when ownership responsibility for the
impact of the Exxon Mobil Corporation was redefined. Exxon's
founding family provided a shining example of leadership and the
ExxonMobil board is urged to listen." Proxy item #15 filer Sister
Patricia Daly, executive director of the Tri-State Coalition for
Responsible Investment (representing Catholic institutional
investors in New York state, Connecticut and New Jersey), said: "In
spite of record-breaking profits, shareowners need to see our
Company's business plan to secure future viability in a
carbon-constrained economy. Reducing emissions may be this
century's moral, technological and financial challenge." Proxy item
#17 filer Neva Rockefeller Goodwin said: "In writing resolution
#17, I focused on a set of projections that are frequently repeated
by Exxon spokesmen - projections that: by 2030 world energy demand
will increase by about 40 percent; that growth in developing
countries will drive most of this increase; and that at least 80
percent of the energy demand in 2030 will be met by fossil fuels.
These projections, and their implications about Exxon's future
directions, depend on two critical -- but untested -- assumptions:
first, that developing countries will indeed enjoy strong economic
growth during the coming decades - an assumption that I certainly
hope will turn out to be true; and second, that global consumption
of oil and gas will substantially increase. The second assumption
is significantly flawed: it ignores both the growing momentum for
developing alternative forms of energy and the many reasons for
reducing the use of fossil fuels now - reasons that include
political mandates, rapidly rising costs, and all of the possible
fall-out from the climate and weather events that are already
occurring." Proxy item #18 filer Michael Crosby, a priest in the
Province of St. Joseph of the Capuchin Order in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin said: "We are very pleasantly surprised that a first year
resolution like ours has garnered so many votes. We had the support
of the biggest pension funds in California and New York. This vote
bodes well for the planet." Proxy item #19 filer Stephen Viederman,
former president of the Noyes Foundation, said: "ExxonMobil is
hiding behind alternative energy research, which is different from
renewable energy research, and they do know the difference. If they
don't adapt to the new circumstances brought about by the growing
demand for regulation, the company will remain an increasingly
endangered dinosaur." DATASOURCE: Interfaith Center on Corporate
Responsibility, NYC CONTACT: Patrick Mitchell, +1-703-276-3266, ,
for Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
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