Oil majors’ defeats reflect impatience for climate action

Oil majors’ defeats reflect impatience for climate action

Big Oil has been rocked by a climate reckoning.

International oil companies have laid out detailed plans to drive down carbon emissions. But stunning boardroom and courtroom defeats this week showed how powerful forces in society want faster change.

Shareholders at ExxonMobil, a titan of corporate America, backed a long-shot activist campaign to overhaul the company's board, handing the new directors a mandate to push a more aggressive strategy to drive down emissions.

The vote on Wednesday came after a Dutch court ordered Royal Dutch Shell to accelerate and deepen its emissions cuts. Meanwhile, investors in Chevron defied management on a major climate vote, approving a measure for the company to set stringent targets on the emissions from the products it sells for the first time.

The actions show the increasing pressure on international oil companies to respond more aggressively to climate change, with broad consequences for energy supplies and energy investors.

Assumptions about energy that were common a few years ago are being shredded. The International Energy Agency said in a landmark report last week that hitting emissions goals would require ending investment in new oil and gasfields. Threats to future oil demand were underscored by this week's enthusiastic reception to the new electric