US pension giant CalPERS is set to vote against ExxonMobil’s board of directors at the upcoming AGM, the fund confirmed today.
CalPERS, which manages approximately $462.8 billion on behalf of public sector workers in California has confirmed its intention to oppose the board due to its insistence on pursuing a lawsuit against shareholders.
In January, ExxonMobil took two shareholders, Follow This and Arjuna Capital, to court for filing a climate resolution at its AGM. The oil giant persisted with the case even though the investors retracted the resolution.
The exclusion of all climate resolutions from this year’s AGM has sparked calls by other investors, including the $26 billion Wespath pension fund, to vote against the reappointment of the firm’s leadership.
This stance has also been endorsed by Proxy Voting Adviser Glass Lewis, which expressed concerns over the infringement on shareholder rights.
CalPERS CEO Marcie Frost has recently been outspoken in her criticism of ExxonMobil, warning that the pension fund “would not be silenced.”
The fund revealed that it had urged ExxonMobil to drop the case but the energy firm had continued to pursue the case.
Marcie Frost further warned that the case set a dangerous precedent: “Decades of shareholder rights are under threat from a lawsuit filed by the leaders of a powerful US corporation, designed to punish two small groups that dared to speak truth to power. If successful, the legal action could diminish the role—and the rights—of every investor in improving a company’s bottom line,” she stressed.
ExxonMobil’s AGM is due to be held on 29 May and will be a virtual assembly only.
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