Proactive Investors - BP (LON:BP) comfortably saw off a challenge to plans to water down its carbon reduction targets even though five pension funds voted against the changes.
In a vote at its AGM yesterday, over 83% of investors backed the company with only around 17% voting for the shareholder-proposed resolution.
These did include, however, government-backed pension scheme Nest, the Universities Pension Scheme, LGPS Central, Brunel Pension Partnership, and Border to Coast, a group with around £440mln invested in the oil giant.
Dutch environmentalist group Follow This put forward the resolution, which called for BP to adopt more aggressive targets on scope 3 emissions generated from the use of its products such as car exhaust fumes.
BP had called the motion "unclear", "simplistic" and "disruptive".
Institutional voting advisers ISS and Glass Lewis had both recommended BP shareholders oppose Follow This’s resolution.
Motions brought to remove chair Helge Lund and to reject the board’s pay were also defeated, though more than 18% of votes were registered against the remuneration report and almost 10% against Lund’s reappointment.
In February, after making huge profits from soaring oil and gas prices, BP announced that it was lowering a target of a reduction of 35-40% in its greenhouse gas emissions to 20-30% while upping its spending on fossil fuel projects.
Katharina Lindmeier, senior responsible investment manager at pension fund Nest, told the BBC: "Not only were we disappointed to see the company going back on the targets, but we were also really surprised not to have had any consultation."
Several Just Stop Oil protestors were removed after attempts to disrupt the meeting.
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