Business Plan for 2C Warming Scenario

2017 – Exxon Mobil Corporation

 

 

RESOLVED: Shareholders request that, beginning in 2018, ExxonMobil publish an annual assessment of the long-term portfolio impacts of technological advances and global climate change policies, at reasonable cost and omitting proprietary information. The assessment can be incorporated into existing reporting and should analyze the impacts on ExxonMobil' s oil and gas reserves and resources under a scenario in which reduction in demand results from carbon restrictions and related rules or commitments adopted by governments consistent with the globally agreed upon 2 degree target. This reporting should assess the resilience of the company's full portfolio of reserves and resources through 2040 and beyond, and address the financial risks associated with such a scenario.

 

Supporting Statement: It is our intention that this be a supportive but stretching resolution that promotes the longer-term success of the company.

 

In December 2015, 195 nations reached an agreement at the 21st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to limit global average temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius, with a stretch target of 1.5 degrees Celsius (Paris Agreement). The Paris Agreement, which went into effect on November 4, 2016, requires signatories to submit progressively stronger nationally determined contributions every five years with a view to ensuring that the objective to restrict warming to well below 2 degrees is met.

 

ExxonMobil recognized in its 2015 10-K that "a number of countries have adopted, or are considering adoption of, regulatory frameworks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," and that such policies, regulations and actions could make its "products more expensive, lengthen project implementation timelines, and reduce demand for hydrocarbons." However, ExxonMobil has not presented any analysis to investors of how its portfolio performs under a 2 degrees scenario. Performing such an analysis is critical to informing a business strategy that meets ExxonMobil's objective of increasing energy access to the world's poorest, without conflicting with the Paris Agreement.

 

When ExxonMobil sought to exclude this resolution from the proxy statement last year, the SEC advised that "it does not appear that ExxonMobil's public disclosures compare favorably with the guidelines of the proposal."

 

The need for extractive companies to provide disclosure on the resilience of their portfolios to the transition to a low carbon economy is generally established.

 

ExxonMobil's peers BP, ConocoPhillips, Royal Dutch Shell and Total have endorsed 2 degrees scenario analysis. The Financial Stability Board's Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosures has indicated that it favors such analysis. Major asset managers  (e.g. BlackRock, State Street Global Advisors) have called for improved climate risk disclosures. In the credit market, Moody's Global Ratings includes low demand scenarios in its ratings analysis of companies in high risk sectors such as the energy industry.

 

This resolution aims to ensure that ExxonMobil fully evaluates and discloses to investors risks to the viability of its assets as a result of the transition to a low carbon economy, including a 2 degrees scenario, in line with sector good practice.