Home > Shareholder resolutions call for fossil fuel wind up plans

Shareholder resolutions call for fossil fuel wind up plans

12 August 2020

Market Forces is supporting shareholders to call on companies to demonstrate how they will ‘wind up’ (bring about an end to) coal, oil and gas production over time, protecting money from being wasted on new projects, and supporting workers as the economy rapidly moves on from fossil fuels to meet the Paris Agreement.

These calls are being put forward in formal shareholder proposals to be voted on at the upcoming annual general meetings of four major pure play fuel producers: Whitehaven Coal, New Hope Group, Beach Energy, and Cooper Energy. Investors should be making the same demands of all coal, oil and gas producers.

The companies facing these calls have no place in a decarbonised economy. Their business models rely on digging up and selling more dirty coal, oil and gas, when we know fossil fuel production must rapidly decline in order to meet the Paris Agreement’s goal of holding warming to 1.5°C.

By failing to plan for and manage this necessary decline, these companies risk burning cash on projects that cannot go ahead if we are to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. This exposes workers and investors to the economic and social shocks of abrupt project closures.

Investors must realise their moral and financial imperatives to take this opportunity to call on coal, oil and gas companies to wind up their operations in a manner consistent with the Paris climate goals, while protecting and supporting workers through the transition to a net-zero carbon economy.

Super – Divest or support wind up resolutions

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Your message to your super fund (you can personalise and amend this, your name will be automatically added at the end)*
I am aware a number of fossil fuel producers are facing shareholder resolutions, calling on them to wind up production in a timeline consistent with the Paris climate goals. I can see no justification for remaining invested in any company whose business model is contingent on the failure of global efforts to avoid runaway climate change, and ask that you divest from all such companies. However, recognising that these calls have fallen on deaf ears so far, these shareholder resolutions provide the only valid question you could ask of a pure play fossil fuel producer: How will the company wind down production in line with the Paris goals, protecting and returning investor capital while supporting workers to transition into sustainable industries? I ask that you put this question to fossil fuel producers by publicly supporting these shareholder resolutions and also in direct engagement with these companies and others. Where any of these companies cannot produce such plans, the case for divestment will be undeniable. Sincerely
Your message to your super fund (you can personalise and amend this, your name will be automatically added at the end)*
I am aware a number of fossil fuel producers are facing shareholder resolutions, calling on them to wind up production in a timeline consistent with the Paris climate goals. I can see no justification for remaining invested in any company whose business model is contingent on the failure of global efforts to avoid runaway climate change, and ask that you divest from all such companies. While I acknowledge you’ve made this call with respect to thermal coal miners, I ask that you apply the same rationale to oil and gas producers as well. However, recognising that these calls have fallen on deaf ears so far, these shareholder resolutions provide the only valid question you could ask of a pure play fossil fuel producer: How will the company wind down production in line with the Paris goals, protecting and returning investor capital while supporting workers to transition into sustainable industries? I ask that you put this question to fossil fuel producers by publicly supporting these shareholder resolutions and also in direct engagement with these companies and others. Where any of these companies cannot produce such plans, the case for divestment will be undeniable. Sincerely
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