The StopEsso UK coalition said today that the 22% shareholder vote against ExxonMobil on climate change at its annual meeting in Dallas should be a wake-up call for the company's anti-global warming stance.
The vote, worth around $44 billion worth of share value, called on ExxonMobil to report to shareholders on how it will mitigate the risks presented by climate change. Another, similar, resolution calling on the company to present a similar report on renewable energy, garnered 21%, up from last year's vote of 20.3%.
The StopEsso campaign, (a coalition of Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and People & Planet) began in the UK when George W Bush announced he would walk away from the only international treaty to combat climate change, the Kyoto Protocol. The campaign has now spread to nine countries.
Exxon has publicly admitted that the campaign has been effective, forcing the company to change its 'spin' on global warming. But despite this softening in public attitude, the company has continued to fund 'front groups' which deny the realities of global warming. These groups are running vociferous campaigns against the US action on climate change, as well as trying to undermine the accepted climate science.
"Exxon's war against the climate has to stop," said Cindy Baxter, co-ordinator of the StopEsso coalition. "Today's vote comes in the face of a massive greenwash campaign from the company to convince investors and the public that it cares about climate change. But it shows that an increasing number of Exxon's own shareholders have not been fooled."
In the lead up to today's AGM, Greenpeace Activists in the US invaded Exxon's Texas based headquarters and served criminal notices on management for crimes against the climate. UK activist Emily Armistead, who was arrested for her part in the activity said from Dallas:
"ExxonMobil is a company stuck in the past. By refusing to accept the link between fossil fuels and climate change it has shown that it really is the dinosaur of the oil industry, and shareholders have recognised this. As long as Exxon continues to sabotage international action on climate change, the campaign and the boycott will continue."
Even ExxonMobil staff are now calling on the company to change. In the wake of a Greenpeace invasion of the Dallas headquarters yesterday, a staff member posted a message on the Greenpeace website:
"There are many of us working for this company who believe that current management is making a mistake by ignoring or, worse, challenging the science on climate change. It's a public relations mistake, and a market positioning mistake, that other oil companies have been quicker to avoid.
Oil isn't going to go away tomorrow. But then, neither is global warming, and we ought to stop pretending it will. I'd prefer to work for a company that took that problem seriously, and did more to look after my children's future."
This release was issued by the StopEsso UK coalition (Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, People and Planet).
For more information, call the Greenpeace press office on 020 7865 8255.
