07 Feb ExxonMobil sues investor activists for “micromanaging”
Shareholder activism in the oil and gas industry has gained traction in recent years, with activist shareholders pushing multinational conglomerates towards sustainable practices to decrease the negative and harmful impact that fossil fuel production has. Thus far, the companies have been ambiguous in their promises to decarbonise and have not made any significant transitions towards the marketing slogans that they have put forth.
Still, the efforts by activist groups seem to be having an impact beyond what executives in these companies would tolerate, exemplified by ExxonMobil recently filing a lawsuit against Follow This, an Amsterdam-based investor activist group, and Arjuna Capital, a registered investment adviser. The suit claims that the activist proposal violates SEC rules for investor petitions, which disallow resubmitting proposals that do not gain investor support over time.
The goal of the lawsuit is to block a motion that the activist group, as an ExxonMobil shareholder, had put forward at the company’s annual investor meeting, to increase the pace for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This was the first time that the company had turned to courts to block a shareholder motion. Even though filing the lawsuit that ExxonMobil filed succeeded in practical terms, forcing activist investors to shelve the call to motion, ExxonMobil has decided to continue with the lawsuit.
Read more at https://inhouse-legal.eu/public-policy-regulations/exxonmobil-sues-investor-activists-for-micromanaging/