ExxonMobil shareholders voted Wednesday to install at least two new independent directors to the company's board, a resounding defeat for chief executive Darren Woods and a ratification of shareholders' unhappiness with the way the company had been addressing climate change and its lagging financial performance.
The votes were part of a trying day for the oil industry. In Europe, a Dutch court ordered Royal Dutch Shell to make deeper-than-planned cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions, and in the United States, Chevron lost a shareholder vote directing the company to take into account its customers' emissions when planning reductions.
The vote at the storied oil giant ExxonMobil "sends an unmistakable signal that climate action is a financial imperative and leading investors know it and are demanding change," Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund, said. "This is a watershed moment for the oil and gas industry. It's no longer tenable for companies like ExxonMobil to defy calls to align their businesses with decarbonizing the economy."
Woods tried to muster votes until the last minute, but failed to win backing for all of his proposed directors. In addition to the election of two new independent directors, the votes over two others from the dissident slate were too close to call. Both sides spent tens of millions of dollars on the hard-fought campaign.
At one point, ExxonMobil declared a one-hour recess in the annual meeting, a move many believed reflected ongoing negotiations over votes. "Stopping the vote was a pretty desperate move and usually portends a result the establishment does not want to happen," said a former oil refining executive with experience at annual meetings.
The proxy campaign that rocked the 130-year-old oil behemoth was led by a young, relatively small hedge fund called Engine No. 1. But it quickly won the backing of at least one of the three biggest U.S. pension funds, the two biggest advisory services and the three biggest fund managers. The three fund managers -- BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street -- hold more than 20% of the ExxonMobil's shares.
BlackRock, the second largest shareholder, cast its votes against ExxonMobil management, Reuters reported. It wasn't clear what decision Vanguard and State Street had made.
Charlie Penner, managing member and head of active engagement at Engine No. 1, said Wednesday on CNBC that other investors had told him that ExxonMobil directors were calling investors to try to get them to change their votes, which is permissible up until the end of voting. Penner said it gave the vote a "very banana republic feel" and was "beneath a company like ExxonMobil or, frankly, any company."
"Investors are waking up," Anne Simpson, managing investment director for board governance and sustainability at the California Public Employees' Retirement System, said in the run-up to the vote. "The sleeping giant maybe is stirring."
Chevron investors also flexed their muscle on Wednesday, casting 61% of shares in favor of a proposal asking the oil major to cut its total greenhouse-gas emissions, including customers' emissions, a category known as "Scope 3" in addition to its own operations and supply chains. The preliminary vote result was announced by Chevron at its annual general meeting.
Separately, a Dutch court on Wednesday ordered Royal Dutch Shell to cut its carbon emissions by 45% by 2030 compared to 2019 levels in a case brought by climate activist groups. The Hague District Court ruled that the Anglo-Dutch energy giant has a duty to care about reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and that its current reduction plans were not concrete enough.
The ExxonMobil annual meeting was closely watched. In the six months since Engine No. 1 opened its campaign, ExxonMobil has steered its policy toward the rebel shareholders, starting a new low-carbon fuel division and reshuffling a couple of directors. It also unveiled a plan for a huge carbon capture and storage project in the Houston ship channel, but company officials said the federal government would have to finance it with subsidies.
But it wasn't enough to stop the rebellion. In the run-up to the meeting, California Public Employees' Retirement System filed a statement saying that "ExxonMobil's shareholders have a first-of-its-kind opportunity to drive systemic change at the company by voting in support of the full alternate slate of directors to strengthen the board and contribute to the sustainable value of their investments."