Calpers, the largest public pension plan in the US, is considering voting against ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods’ reelection to the company’s board. This comes in response to shareholder unhappiness over a lawsuit it filed against two investors, with an emphasis on climate change. This information was reported by the Financial Times on Friday.
Earlier this year, investors led by the shareholder activism group Follow and the American activist investment firm Arjuna Capital made demands of Exxon and other large oil companies. They called for announcements of goals to cut emissions from their products and embrace stricter climate policies.
In an attempt to stop a climate plan put to a vote during the company’s shareholder meeting in May, activist investors filed a complaint against Exxon in January in a Texas court.
Arjuna Capital and Follow This subsequently withdrew the proposal but Exxon said in February that it would continue to pursue a lawsuit against the two activist investors.
Michael Cohen, the chief operating investment officer of California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), told the newspaper that the pension fund was “deeply concerned” about the case. He noted that it seemed to be an attempt to silence shareholders critical of the company.
“Exxon has gone well beyond any other company that we’re aware of in terms of suing shareholders for trying to bring forward a proposal,” said the reporter. According to current regulatory filings, the fund has a 0.2 percent equity position in Exxon.
Calpers did not reply to Reuters’s request for comment right away. We were unable to get in touch with Exxon for comment right away.
The operations chief at Calpers said “correctly” when asked if the company was thinking about voting against Michael Cohen, the board chair, being re-elected. He also mentioned that “there were conversations happening right now.”
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