SUPPORTING STATEMENT
As the nation and our Company prepare for and participate in a transitioning energy economy, our Company should play a role to in helping provide security for impacted workers and communities where our Company operates.
Our Company’s Chairman and CEO Darren W. Woods has personally signed the Business Roundtable’s Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation which affirmed our Company’s commitment to serve all stakeholders, including “investing in our employees” and supporting the communities in which we work.” (https://opportunity.businessroundtable.org/ourcommitment/)
UN PRI’s Statement of Investor Commitment to Support a Just Transition on Climate Change states that “the responsible management of workforce and community dimensions of climate change are increasingly material drivers for value creation.” (https://www.unpri.org/download?ac=10382)
In the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) 2015 Guidelines for a Just Transition towards Environmentally Sustainable Economies and Societies for All, ILO emphasizes that the transition to environmentally sustainable economies and societies involves “the pivotal role of employers” and “anticipating impacts on employment, adequate and sustainable social protection for job losses and displacement, skills development and social dialogue, including the effective exercise of the right to organize and bargain collectively.” (https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@ed_emp/@emp_ent/documents/publication/w cms_432859.pdf)
In its Advancing Climate Solutions 2022 Progress Report, the Company stated that it plans to invest more than $15 billion over the next six years under the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Net Zero Emissions by 2050 (NZE) scenario to reduce emissions through carbon capture and storage, hydrogen and biofuels. The report discussed the Company’s process to address socioeconomic risks before pursuing a new development, but the report did not discuss the implications for workers and communities when a refining, petrochemical or production facility is transitioning or closed. (https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/climate-solutions/advancing- climate-solutions-progress-report)
For these reasons, it is imperative that the Board creates the proposed report as a first step towards understanding and mitigating the impact of future plant closings and transition on workers and communities where the Company operates.
We urge shareholders to vote “FOR” this proposal.