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Shareholder engagement for climate change: Lessons from the ExxonMobil vs Engine No.1 proxy battle

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  • Naef, Alain

Abstract

This paper offers a case study of how a small shareholder managed to impose three more climate-conscious directors on the board of ExxonMobil, one of the world’s largest scope 3 CO2 emitters. This concrete approach to fossil fuel companies’ transition might prove useful for climate change mitigation. The policy has the advantage to work in a vacuum. It has positive impacts on emissions regardless of what other actors do, unlike policies such as global carbon taxes or large-scale divestment, which need more coordination. But it comes with limitations. I find that the proxy campaign led to more attention for the hedge fund running the campaign. It was used as a marketing tool. Despite the limitations, proxy battles could prove a useful approach to pragmatic climate change approaches.

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  • Naef, Alain, 2022. "Shareholder engagement for climate change: Lessons from the ExxonMobil vs Engine No.1 proxy battle," SocArXiv 3b5d4, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:3b5d4
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/3b5d4
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jessica F. Green, 2021. "Beyond Carbon Pricing: Tax Reform is Climate Policy," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 12(3), pages 372-379, May.
    2. Auke Plantinga & Bert Scholtens, 2021. "The financial impact of fossil fuel divestment," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(1), pages 107-119, January.
    3. Jonas Meckling, 2015. "Oppose, Support, or Hedge? Distributional Effects, Regulatory Pressure, and Business Strategy in Environmental Politics," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 15(2), pages 19-37, May.
    4. Truzaar Dordi & Olaf Weber, 2019. "The Impact of Divestment Announcements on the Share Price of Fossil Fuel Stocks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-20, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Naef, Alain, 2024. "The impossible love of fossil fuel companies for carbon taxes," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).

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