Equinor ASA | Report key information on both climate risk and nature risk

Status
2.50% votes in favour
AGM date
Previous AGM date
Proposal number
9
Resolution details
Company ticker
EQNR (previously Statoil)
Lead filer
Undisclosed filer
Resolution ask
Report on or disclose
ESG theme
  • Environment
ESG sub-theme
  • Climate change
  • Biodiversity / nature
Type of vote
Shareholder proposal
Filer type
Shareholder
Company sector
Energy
Company HQ country
Norway
Resolved clause
“Equinor must, on every production unit both nationally and internationally, report key information on both climate risk and nature risk, including climate gas emissions, measures to reduce pressure on nature and biodiversity in and around the area of construction, as well as the total impact on ecological values in the ecosystem where production is taking place.”
Supporting statement
In the latest Global Risks Report from the World Economic Forum1
(2020), nine out of ten major global
risk elements are connected to climate and nature. At the same time, we know that economic growth has
happened at the expense of nature. WWF’s Living Planet report from 2020 shows that more than a million
species are in danger of going extinct within the next decades. Climate change and nature degradation
are the main drivers behind this potential catastrophe.
Equinor’s activities in vulnerable areas with high ecological value creates a significant risk for the company.
At the 2020 AGM, WWF-Norway presented a map showing that a large part of the Equinor offshore
portfolio is either in, or close to, valuable and vulnerable marine areas2
. In addition, the company is still
involved in land-based activities, which pose a significant risk to both valuable nature and freshwater
resources, for example in the company’s recent expansion into unconventional drilling (fracking) in Vaca
Muerta/ Patagonia in Argentina, and the scandalous operations onshore in North America.
In recent years, reporting on climate risk, including financial, reputational, physical and liability risk,
has received growing attention from the finance industry. Increasingly, the risk associated with nature
degradation and loss of biodiversity (so called ‘nature risk’), is recognised as a threat that could cause
negative cascade effects on biodiversity as well as posing a potential financial risk3
. Equinor’s explorations
and plans of opening up new areas intended to produce oil beyond 2050 also pose a direct threat to
the global goals agreed in the Paris Agreement. Since the emission data reported from Equinor is on an
aggregated level for the whole global portfolio, it gives little insight as to the actual climate risk each project
poses to the company. In addition, several investment banks are now stopping the financing of projects that
cause undue harm to climate and nature, as this harm is something that could negatively affect the share
price of oil companies.
For the shareholders of Equinor it is essential that the company start to operate with more transparency
around the consequences related to both climate and nature from each of their projects individually

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