CHEVRON CORPORATION | Remove emissions reduction targets at CHEVRON CORPORATION

Status
Omitted
AGM date
Resolution details
Company ticker
CVX
Lead filer
National Legal and Policy Center
Resolution ask
Other ask
ESG theme
  • Environment
ESG sub-theme
  • GHG targets / emissions
Type of vote
Shareholder proposal
Filer type
Shareholder
Company sector
Energy
Company HQ country
United States
Resolved clause
Shareholders request the Company to remove all emissions reduction targets covering greenhouse gas emissions from the Company’s operations and energy products.
Whereas clause
An alleged “scientific consensus”1 2 claims anthropogenically driven climate change
will result in catastrophic impacts to the environment, to the planet, and to humans. However,
research increasingly shows worst-case scenarios are unlikely, and the potential consequences of
carbon dioxide emissions (aka “plant food”) have been greatly overstated.3
Corporate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets are usually guided by the Paris
Agreement, which is heavily informed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.4
These targets are neither legally binding nor legitimized by scientific evidence.
Hydrocarbons are reliable and cost-efficient. Renewable energy will not replace hydrocarbons in
the near future, if ever.5 Competitors of Chevron Corporation (“Chevron” or the “Company”) are
betting big on continued demand for oil and gas.6
Supporting statement
Chevron has adopted greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction
targets7 for its scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions (several8 9 of its competitors only set targets for scope
1 and 2 emissions, which only account for a company’s own operations) under the auspices of
aligning with an activist-driven climate agenda, which lacks a basis in definitive, observable and
actionable science. Further, the Company states:10
At Chevron, we believe the future of energy is lower carbon, and we support the global
net zero ambitions of the Paris Agreement.
These “net zero ambitions” include a rapid phaseout of oil and gas in favor of lower emission
forms of energy, such as wind and solar.11 12 Chevron has also issued an extensive Climate
Change Resilience Report in which it backs numerous economically destructive climate policies,
including carbon pricing.13 14
Chevron’s embrace of politically-driven climate alarmism will diminish shareholder resources
both in the short and long runs. The Company has only two paths to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions: investing in carbon capture and storage technology, or reducing oil and gas production.15 CCS projects are unprofitable without government subsidies,16 17 whose
continuation is in doubt in their current form under the new presidential administration.18 That
leaves the Company with one path: reduction of oil and gas investment. Chevron has always
been an oil and gas company. Reducing production would harm shareholders’ investment.
Contrarily, Chevron recently completed a $53-billion acquisition of Hess Corporation,19 which
signals that the Company does not take its emissions reduction rhetoric and actions seriously, as
it plans to double-down on oil and gas production. If Chevron sincerely believed in the necessity
of an energy transition,20 it would not stake its future on a massive long-term bet on oil and gas.

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