My video on the most underreported-but-about-to-explode stories of the millennium is above. Below, latest developments.
Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) and Chevron Corp (CVX.N) will face their toughest-ever push by shareholders concerned about a warming world at annual meetings on Wednesday, as the Paris accord to tackle climate change ratchets up investor pressure on two of the world’s largest oil companies.
The tension is most acute at Exxon, which has denied accusations from environmentalists that it purposely misled the public about climate change risks. The New York attorney general is investigating Exxon and it has complained of being unfairly targeted by special interest groups.
The raft of proposals up for vote at the two companies more than doubled to 11 this year, the latest sign that environmental concerns once considered peripheral by many investors have become mainstream. Even the most traditional shareholder groups are now urging companies to detail how they will plan for the future after 195 governments agreed in December to limit the rise in global temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) through combined national pledges to cut carbon emissions from fossil fuels.
For around a quarter of a century, a varied collection of climate activists and institutions concerned about rising temperatures have attempted to get Exxon Mobil to move forward on the issue of climate change.
This year, they believe the coalition attempting to force change on the issue, is the strongest ever assembled. Investors with at least $8tn under management have indicated they will support greater recognition of the climate change issue.
At the AGM here in Dallas, the company faces resolutions including one to appoint a board member who has a high degree of climate expertise.
One motion asks the company to support the goal of limiting warming to below 2 degrees in line with the Paris climate agreement. Another asks Exxon to disclose how resilient its investments would be if policy measures to restrict warming to 2 degrees were implemented.
This motion has a number of supporters including the Norwegian government’s pension fund, the world’s largest.
It’s being co-sponsored by the Church Commissioners, who manage the Church of England’s investment fund.
Their head of responsible investment says the board of Exxon Mobil should now recognise the new realities.
“It’s a moment where Exxon really has to recognise that the world is changing,” Edward Mason told BBC News.
“Climate change is real, the transition to a low carbon economy is real, and they need to get on board with this.”
Exxon have always seemed like a soulless organization, hope pressure from stockholders can shift their entrenched attitudes. Pleased to read that the French enterprise “Total” is taking note to the writing on the wall. Hint to EXXON.
Total rules out Arctic oil drilling, citing 2C goal
Total is slashing expensive oil ventures in line with international efforts to hold global warming below 2C.
The French oil major is reducing its exposure to tar sands and avoiding the Arctic ice pack. When deciding where to drill, it assumes a carbon price of US$30-40 a tonne.
That was revealed in a strategy paper published to coincide with Tuesday’s AGM, in the clearest industry acknowledgment to date of the risks of unfettered exploration.
http://www.climatechangenews.com/2016/05/24/total-rules-out-arctic-oil-drilling-citing-2c-goal/
Big/massive hint to EXXON from Chile . . diversify before it’s far too late.
The Metro of Santiago, Chile, will be the first public transport system to run mostly on solar energy, after a new agreement signed with Total and SunPower this week.
According to an announcement from US solar manufacturer SunPower, in cooperation with Total, a global integrated energy producer and provider, the Metro of Santiago, Chile, has signed a power purchase agreement for the supply of 300 GWh annually of clean solar energy for its public transport network.
http://cleantechnica.com/2016/05/24/worlds-first-public-transport-system-run-solar/
If only the oil and gas industry had siphoned money towards some form of renewable liquid fuel R&D and possibly lobbied for those renewable subsidies rather than wasting everyone’s time and advocating far more risk by instead going for climate denial and lobbying exclusively for their fossil fuel interests.
Anyone here remember the 1989 oil spill in Prince William Sound which was caused by the Exxon Valdez ? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Valdez_oil_spill
Yes, why do you ask? Considering the shortness of the attention span of the average shopper and reality TV watcher (oops, I meant American), it was a long time ago and is largely forgotten—-just as the much more recent BP Gulf spill is now ancient history for most.
The Verizon strike may be impacting FIOS—at least in NO VA. Lost contact with Crock for a while—-didn’t get some of the new posts or comments on old ones. Anyone else having this problem? (Hope I didn’t miss any priceless words of delusion from Russell Cook).
DOG,
Send me an e-mail via my gravatar so I can write you re visit?
Thanks.
This’ll have to be another drive-by hit from me (likely a busy day for me today and I’m running way behind on catching up with replies to my prior comments).
Dude, don’t miss a word of my comments here – put this string…
site:climatecrocks.com
… into a search window, make sure there is a space after it, then put in my name within quote marks, which through that action narrows the search results strictly to me. Without quote marks, you might end up with results showing John Cook or Russell Seitz, you see. I used a variant of such a site specific search to put the words “rent-free” between quote marks. As in, living rent-free in your minds. BTW, if anonymous commenter “Gingerbaker” does drop by for a personal visit, perhaps he or she can lend you a hand with finding all those corporate-bought/fed/orchestrated “lies” which are supposed to permeate my GelbspanFiles blog and my online articles.
Some levity injected into the thread by Russell, although the joke of him HACKING WordPress and giving himself thumbs up right from the get-go has long lost its humor (not that it ever had much, except to elicit a sardonic “there’s that scumbag Russell again, HACKING WordPress and giving himself thumbs up that NOBODY here ever would”.
LMAO! “This’ll have to be another drive-by hit from me”, says Russell? EVERY post you make here is a “drive-by hit”, Russell, and as happens with many a real drive-by, the shots usually miss their target and hit some old lady in a rocker on her porch or a baby in a crib. You have already shot off all your toes, as the saying goes—-be careful with those “weapons” you employ—-the rounds never go where you want them to go, and your aim is atrocious.
And if Russell thinks I would waste the time to even read his instructions here on how to track down ALL of his demented BS, he’s more clueless than I thought. Just as I clean up “presents from the dog world” when I mow the lawn, I respond to Russell’s BS when It comes up on Crock. Sort of the same thing, except the flies and smell don’t come across the internet, so that unpleasantness is avoided (the figurative smell of Russell and his “droppings” is, however, much worse than what my canine friends leave for me).
Gingerbaker is not an “anonymous commenter” as you would know if you did anything else on the web but read your own bullshit and that of other right wing morons, climate deniers, and paid whores for fossil fuels like you. If “Gingerbaker” does drop by for a personal visit, we will have a good time telling a few (very few) “Russell stories” before we move on to more important topics.
PS Does anyone here but me marvel at the inappropriateness of someone like Russell referring to others as “dude”? Is it a CA thing? Should I not bother to convince Russell to stop doing it when I pay HIM a “personal visit” one day?
Peter, please tell me where you found that clip from Carl Sagan
NYT: Climate Change Activists Either Prod Exxon Mobil or Dump It