Why don’t the governments and Equinor listen to proposals from Norwegian shareholders? For many years, Norwegian shareholders have submitted proposals or resolutions for approval by the annual shareholders meeting (AGM), related to international oil and gas exploration, drilling and production, the environment and energy transition. These proposals have been consistently voted down by the representative from the Ministry of Trade and Industry, who represent the State’s 67% ownership in Equinor. The vote is based on meetings with Equinor’s Board of Directors and Group Management before the annual general meeting. It later emerged that in many cases, Equinor had later carried out what was proposed. An earlier action would have saved Equinor and the Norwegian state large sums of money. Here are some examples: Proposal: Statoil (Equinor) to divest its tar sands activity in Canada. Proposal from 2009: Not accepted by the Government’s representative based on recommendation by Statoil’s (Equinor’s) board of directors. The proposal was repeated in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2016, each time voted down by the Government’s representative. Statoil sold its tar sands operations in Canada in December 2016 with a loss of more than NOK 4.2 billion. Proposal: Statoil (Equinor) to develop an energy transition plan. Proposal from 2015: Not accepted by the Government’s representative based on the recommendation of Statoil’s (Equinor’s) board of directors. The proposal was repeated in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. In March 2022, Equinor presented their ”Energy transition plan”. Proposal: Equinor will stop drilling in the waters south of Australia. Proposal from 2019: Not accepted by the Government’s representative based on the recommendation of Equinor’s board of directors. In February 2020, Equinor pulled out of the area. Proposal: Equinor to pull out of US onshore oil and gas activities (fracking). Proposal from 2020: Not accepted by the Government’s representative based on the recommendation of Equinor’s board of directors. In February 2021, Equinor pulled out of onshore activities and reported financial losses of NOK 200 billion, with no consequences for members of the board of directors or the corporate executive committee.
And the story repeats itself: In the 2022 AGM, these were, among several proposals, voted down by the Government’s representative: - Proposal from shareholders that Equinor introduce a climate target and emissions plan in line with the 1.5°C target. - Proposals from shareholders that Equinor declare the Norwegian sector of the Barents Sea as a voluntary exclusion zone and prioritize its offshore activities in the Norwegian sector and rapidly increase its investments in renewable energy. - Proposal from the shareholder that Equinor’s board of directors develop a concrete action plan for quality assurance and anti-corruption.