BP P.L.C. | Climate change targets

Status
20.65% votes in favour
AGM date
Previous AGM date
Proposal number
13
Resolution details
Company ticker
BP
Lead filer
Undisclosed filer
Resolution ask
Set targets or plans
ESG theme
  • Environment
ESG sub-theme
  • Net Zero / Paris aligned
Type of vote
Shareholder proposal
Filer type
Shareholder
Company sector
Energy
Company HQ country
United Kingdom
Resolved clause
Absolute emissions reductions
The goal of the Paris Climate Agreement is to limit global warming to
well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, to aim for a global net-zeroemission energy system, and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature
increase to 1.5°C.
To reach the goal of the Paris Climate Agreement, the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special report Global Warming of 1.5°C
(2018) suggests that global absolute net energy-related emissions should
be reduced substantially by 2030 and be close to net zero by 2050,
compared to 2010 levels (page 119, table 2.4).
To allow maximum flexibility, the company may use whatever metric they
deem best suited to set Paris-consistent emissions reductions targets,
for example a relative GHG intensity metric (GHG emissions per unit of
energy). Whatever metric is chosen (relative or absolute), the targets
must be proven to lead to absolute emissions reductions compliant
with the Paris Climate Agreement.
We believe that the company could lead and thrive in the energy
transition. We therefore encourage you to set targets that are inspirational
for society, employees, shareholders, and the energy sector, allowing the
company to meet an increasing demand for energy while reducing GHG
emissions to levels consistent with the global intergovernmental
consensus specified by the Paris Climate Agreement.
Supporting statement
Supporting statement
The oil and gas industry can make or break the goal of the Paris Climate
Agreement. Therefore, shareholders support oil and gas companies to
change course; to align their targets with the goal of the Paris Climate
Agreement and invest accordingly in the energy transition to a net-zeroemission energy system.
Fiduciary duty
We, the shareholders, understand this support to be part of our fiduciary
duty to protect all assets in the global economy from devastating
climate change.
A growing international consensus has emerged among financial
institutions that climate-related risks are a source of financial risk, and
therefore achieving the goal of Paris is essential to risk management
and responsible stewardship of the economy.
Ambitions and targets
We, the shareholders, therefore welcomed the company’s climate
ambitions, aims, and targets. We especially welcomed you crossing the
Rubicon on Scope 3 by including the GHG emissions of the use of your
energy products (Scope 3). Reducing absolute emissions from the use
of energy products is essential to achieving the goal of the Paris
Climate Agreement.
We thank the shareholders that supported this crucial step by voting for
the Follow This climate targets resolution in 2019.
Shareholders support you to advance these ambitions to Paris-consistent
short-, medium-, and long- term emissions reduction targets and
invest accordingly.
Increasing number of investors insists on targets
Backing from investors that insist on Paris-consistent targets for all
emissions continues to gain momentum; in 2020, an unprecedented
number of shareholders voted for climate targets resolutions.
At the annual general meetings of Equinor, Shell, and Total, the
companies’ boards rejected the Follow This climate targets resolution by
claiming their non-committal climate ambitions were sufficient. In each
case, a significant minority of shareholders voted for the Follow This
climate targets resolution. At Shell, this minority rose from 5.5% in 2018
to 14.4% in 2020; at Equinor, as a share of non-government votes, from
12% in 2019 to 27% in 2020; and the very first climate targets resolution
filed at Total received 17% of all shareholder votes in 2020.
Evidently, a growing group of investors across the energy sector unites
behind visible and unambiguous support for Paris-consistent targets
for all emissions.

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