Caltex CEO Julian Segal made a perfect case for ditching the company’s fossil fuel-reliant business model yesterday at the company’s Annual General Meeting when he said: “If we were to put a target to reduce emissions by 50%, that would mean closing the refinery at Lytton”.
See the clip here:
This suggests that Caltex doesn’t have emissions reduction targets precisely because the company would have to close their current operations to be in line with below two degrees of warming in accordance to the Paris Agreement.
A shareholder asked Caltex whether they are planning to sign up to the Financial Stability Board’s Task Force for Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) – a voluntary framework which considers the physical, liability and transitional risks posed by climate change.
Chairman Steven Gregg said they would sign up to the final recommendations of the TCFD, however was vague about when, stating the next 1-3 years. When pressed by shareholders to provide a timeline, Mr. Gregg said it would likely be produced in 36 months.
A shareholder rightly expressed what is concerning about Caltex taking so long to sign up to TCFD, “I am concerned that Caltex’s lack of climate risk disclosure suggests a lack of attention to, what I believe, is a material risk to the company.”
Climate change poses serious financial risks for a company like Caltex – and 36 months is too long to wait for the company to sign up to the TCFD. More than 240 companies and major investors that manage a total combined value of $100 trillion have already signed up.