May 25, 2022 2:27 PM ET
Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM)
By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor
Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) shareholders supported the company's energy transition strategy at the annual general meeting on Wednesday, voting against most proposals related to speeding up carbon emission reductions, Reuters reports.
Only 28% of the participants reportedly backed a resolution filed by the Follow This activist group urging faster action to battle climate change.
A proposal calling for a report on low carbon business planning received just 10.5% support, and a report on plastic production garnered a 37% favorable vote.
However, climate campaigners notched a "major win" as shareholders backed a measure calling on Exxon (XOM) to lay out how a rapid global shift away from fossil fuels would affect its finances, Financial Times reports.
The measure, which was backed by 52% of shareholders, asks Exxon (XOM) to publish an audited report outlining how the International Energy Agency's modeling for a net zero economy by 2050 would impact the "assumptions, costs, estimates and valuations" underlying its financial statements.
Company management had urged shareholders to vote against the resolution, saying the information already was readily available; a similar motion was narrowly defeated last year.
The motion was backed by some major investors including New York State Common Retirement, T. Rowe Price and California Public Employees Retirement System.
Also at the meeting, shareholders re-elected Exxon's (XOM) board and supported the executive compensation program.
Exxon (XOM) trades +1.9%, lifting the stock's market cap to $405B, the highest since the late 2014 oil bust and triple a bottom of $137B hit in 2020.
Exxon (XOM) said it continues to mitigate emissions from its operations and achieved its 2025 emission reduction plans four years earlier than planned.