The oil and gas industry can make or break the goal of the Paris Climate Agreement. Therefore,
shareholders support oil and gas companies to change course; to align their targets with the goal of
the Paris Climate Agreement and invest accordingly in the energy transition to a net-zero-emission
energy system.
Fiduciary duty
We, the shareholders, understand this support to be part of our fiduciary duty to protect all assets in
the global economy from devastating climate change.
A growing international consensus has emerged among financial institutions that climate-related
risks are a source of financial risk, and therefore achieving the goal of Paris is essential to risk
management and responsible stewardship of the economy.
Ambitions and targets
We, the shareholders, therefore welcomed the company’s climate ambitions. We especially
welcomed you crossing the Rubicon on Scope 3 by including the GHG emissions of the use of your
energy products (Scope 3). Reducing absolute emissions from the use of energy products is essential
to achieving the goal of the Paris Climate Agreement.
We thank the shareholders that supported this crucial step by voting for climate targets resolutions
in previous years. Shareholders support you to advance these ambitions to Paris-consistent short-, medium-, and
long-term emissions reduction targets and invest accordingly.
Increasing number of investors insists on targets
Backing from investors that insist on Paris-consistent targets for all emissions continues to gain
momentum; in 2020, an unprecedented number of shareholders voted for climate targets
resolutions.
At the annual general meetings of Equinor, Shell, and Total, the companies’ boards rejected the
Follow This climate targets resolution by claiming their non-committal climate ambitions were
sufficient. In each case, a significant minority of shareholders voted for the Follow This climate
targets resolution. At Shell, this minority rose from 5.5% in 2018 to 14.4% in 2020; at Equinor, as a
share of non-government votes, from 12% in 2019 to 27% in 2020; and the very first climate targets
resolution filed at Total received 17% of all shareholder votes in 2020.
Evidently, a growing group of investors across the energy sector unites behind visible and
unambiguous support for Paris-consistent targets for all emissions.
Absolute emissions reductions
The goal of the Paris Climate Agreement is to limit global warming to well below 2°C above
pre-industrial levels, to aim for a global net-zero-emission energy system, and to pursue efforts to
limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C.
To reach the goal of the Paris Climate Agreement, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) special report Global Warming of 1.5°C (2018) suggests that global absolute net energy-related
emissions should be reduced substantially by 2030 and be close to net zero by 2050, compared to
2010 levels (page 119, table 2.4).
To allow maximum flexibility, the company may use whatever metric they deem best suited to set
Paris-consistent emissions reductions targets, for example a relative GHG intensity metric (GHG
emissions per unit of energy). Whatever metric is chosen (relative or absolute), the targets must be
proven to lead to absolute emissions reductions compliant with the Paris Climate Agreement.
We believe that the company could lead and thrive in the energy transition. We therefore encourage
you to set targets that are inspirational for society, employees, shareholders, and the energy sector,
allowing the company to meet an increasing demand for energy while reducing GHG emissions to
levels consistent with the global intergovernmental consensus specified by the Paris Climate
Agreement.
You have our support.