Dutch activists bring climate targets to US oil majors

Green light from Wall Street regulator signals ‘clean break’ with Trump era

SEC letter signals tougher stance on US oil and gas producers

INVESTORS IN CHEVRON and other big US oil companies will vote next month for the first time on proposals from Dutch activist investors to curb greenhouse gas emissions. In a clean break from precedent, the decision will compel US oil majors to adopt new proposals to reduce the carbon footprint of their oil and gas products.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ruled that both Chevron and ConocoPhillips must include a climate proposal from Follow This, a Dutch group of green investors, at the oil and gas companies’ annual general meetings in May. Under the Trump administration, the SEC rejected climate resolutions filed at US oil companies’ AGMs as a form of ‘micromanagement’.

The ballots, which are non-binding, provide the first public opportunity for shareholders to vote on their company’s climate policy.

In Europe, minority support for similar proposals compelled oil companies to announce new climate ‘ambitions’ a…