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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_v1, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:3b5d4_v1
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/3b5d4_v1
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