BP bosses get public grilling on climate from big investors

Bloomberg

BP Plc lined the road leading to its annual shareholder gathering in Scotland’s oil capital with hoardings touting investments in renewable energy. Inside the meeting, there was a fierce debate on whether the energy major was telling the truth.
Investors large and small grilled BP’s Chairman Helge Lund and Chief Executive Officer Bob Dudley for over two hours on the company’s plans to tackle climate change and its preparation for the energy transitions. It became so intense at times that a security team had to remove protesters screaming “this is a crime scene.”
Protests at oil company events aren’t new. But investors controlling trillions of dollars of funds are now also putting their weight behind attempts to get oil companies to play a bigger role in reducing global emissions. That’s increasing the urgency for the industry to take action.
“It raises a lot of questions for investors around what is the purpose of the company? What is your role in this transition?” Victoria Barron, a fund manager at Newton Investment Management, said in an interview after the AGM. “The details are what we need because we’re not getting that right now.”
About 99 percent of BP’s shareholders passed a resolution at the AGM asking the company to disclose more information about how its investments align with the Paris climate accord. The proposal was backed by a group called Climate Action 100+, whose investors together manage more than $33 trillion of funds.
BP vigorously defended its record, pointing out multiple times that it was the first large oil company to acknowledge climate change. Former CEO John Browne said in a speech at Stanford University in 1997 that it was important for the world to act on it.
Lund suggested it was disappointing governments didn’t heed that call with strong legislation.
“I can assure you that there is absolutely no hesitancy in BP in terms of being ambitious, being willing and able to lead in the energy transition,” Lund said. “And I speak about every level of the company.”