If you try to imagine the most pathetic gathering of humans ever, it would probably look a lot like this group of people who have amassed their fortunes by stripping the Earth of its fossil fuels and are desperately trying to squeeze the last gasp of relevance out of a backwards-thinking, planet-strangling industry.
This morning, ExxonMobil held its annual shareholder meeting at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, Texas. This meeting was ostensibly focused on the climate crisis, something which Exxon has most likely exacerbated. But that doesn’t mean that all of Exxon’s investors are bad people. Some of them are demanding that the corporation make big changes, not only to compete in the world’s energy marketplace, but also to prevent the inevitable destruction of that world itself.
There were 11 measures related to climate change that were voted on today. We already know that in advance of today’s meeting, Exxon actively encouraged its shareholders to vote against any climate-related policy. So the fact that all of the climate-related measures were voted down are not all that surprising. Still, here they are, the most disturbing and outrageous outcomes from Exxon’s fossil fuel lovefest.
“Climate report? No, we’re good”
Just in: Exxon shareholders vote down a measure requiring a report on how climate policy might impact the company. 61.8% against.
— Eric Holthaus (@EricHolthaus) May 25, 2016
“There’s no need to reduce emissions”
At Exxon meeting, 81 percent of investors voted against a policy to limit global warming to 2-degrees Celsius; 18 percent voted for it.
— Collin Eaton (@CollinEatonHC) May 25, 2016
“Nah, we don’t need a climate expert”
At Exxon meeting, 79 percent of shareholders voted against proposal to put a climate expert on the board of directors.
— Collin Eaton (@CollinEatonHC) May 25, 2016
Meanwhile, some shareholders appeared especially progressive
LOL there's a climate denier speaking at Exxon shareholder's meeting. "If y'all don't like Exxon why don't you buy solar stock?" #ExxonAGM
— Melissa Cronin (@melissa_cronin) May 25, 2016
And the CEO doesn’t seem to really get it
Exxon CEO: We need breakthroughs in energy tech, "but until we have those, just saying 'turn the taps off' is not acceptable to humanity"
— Ed Crooks (@Ed_Crooks) May 25, 2016
Then he said: “The world is going to have to continue using fossil fuels, whether they like it or not.”
Sadly, this seems to happen annually
Hey, as has happened every year since 1990, all climate resolutions at Exxon annual mtg resoundingly voted down. Maybe now we can divest?
— Bill McKibben (@billmckibben) May 25, 2016
There was one good thing, though
NEW: Exxon shareholders OK measure that could put climate expert on board at #ExxonAGM $XOM 61.9% support, vs board https://t.co/tLyEL695Et
— Joel Kenrick (@joelkenrick) May 25, 2016
Even though the move to put a climate expert on the board was voted down, in a rare moment of clarity, voters approved what’s called a proxy access measure, which is actually very good. It means that shareholders with a minority stake could eventually work together to nominate a climate scientist to become a director. Eventually. Someday.