BP\u2019s board has suffered a triple climate rebellion in its first shareholder meeting since appointing new leadership to steer the embattled oil company.<\/p>\n
More than 50% of shareholders voting at the company\u2019s annual general meeting (AGM) came out against its plans to scrap its existing climate reporting, and its resolution to replace in-person annual shareholder meetings \u2013 a lightning rod for climate protest in recent years \u2013 with online-only events.<\/p>\n
About 18% of shareholders voted against the re-election of BP\u2019s chair, Albert Manifold, less than a year after he took on the role. The \u201cunprecedented\u201d revolt means BP will not be allowed to carry out the resolutions that were defeated by a majority, although Manifold will remain as chair.<\/p>\n
The dissenting shareholders included Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), the UK\u2019s largest asset manager, which had said it would vote against Manifold and oppose BP\u2019s plans to cut back on climate reporting.<\/p>\n
Manifold was heavily criticised in the run-up to the AGM for putting forward a resolution to dilute BP\u2019s climate disclosures, and for blocking a resolution from shareholder activists at the climate campaign group Follow This.<\/p>\n
The influential proxy shareholder advisory Glass Lewis said Manifold was ultimately accountable for BP\u2019s decision to exclude the Follow This resolution and recommended a vote against him on these grounds.<\/p>\n
The resolution called on BP to explain how its pursuit of rising oil and gas production aligned with a world shifting away from fossil fuels.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe question is simple: how does BP plan to create value for shareholders as oil and gas demand declines?\u201d said Mark van Baal, the founder of Follow This. \u201cBP would rather antagonise its shareholders than answer it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nick Mazan, from the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR), said: \u201cToday\u2019s result is unprecedented and demonstrates that investors are fed up with BP\u2019s lack of capital discipline and its approach to shareholder rights.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn our view it was a mistake for BP to expect to push through measures to undercut shareholder rights without resistance. Investors have communicated loud and clear to the company that brushing shareholders aside is unacceptable in public markets,\u201d Mazan said.<\/p>\n
Shareholders landed the blows against BP weeks after Meg O\u2019Neill joined the 116-year-old company as chief executive<\/a>, as the first external hire to BP\u2019s top job and the first woman to hold the position at any major oil company.<\/p>\n