Lothian Pension Fund has filed a solicitation notice with US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in support of the “Engine No 1” alternative slate of directors.
“Exxon remains a systemically important energy supplier worldwide, but we believe they’ve been slow to respond to the challenges of the energy transition and must now play catch up. The company risks seeing its assets become obsolete unless they overhaul their current capital expenditure plans.” says LPF Responsible Investment lead David Hickey. “The candidates put forward represent a blend of excellent experience in the oil business, alongside a great track record in innovation and development of low carbon business models. We believe they can add significant fresh perspective to the Exxon board and help to reshape the company for the coming transition decades.”
Chief Investment Officer Bruce Miller agrees: “We’ve held a dialogue as a shareholder with Exxon for many years now, either directly, or in partnership with our voting and engagement provider EOS at Federated Hermes, and collaboratively through organisations like Climate Action 100+. Our approach has always been to engage rather than divest, at least unless it looks like it’s not proving successful. In this case, it would be easy to dispose of the shares given recent sluggishness on climate issues, but we prefer to take an active stance and use our shareholding to bring in new personnel with relevant experience and fresh perspectives.”