* Resolution requests annual carbon reduction targets
* Founder says big shareholders helped draft the resolution
By Karolin Schaps
London, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Oil major Royal Dutch Shell is facing rising pressure from shareholders to shieldits business from climate change threats and to play a biggerrole in lowering global carbon emissions.
Activist shareholder group Follow This, representing some ofShell's retail shareholders, will put forward a resolution atnext year's annual shareholder meeting requesting Shell to settargets for annual greenhouse gas emissions reductions, itsfounder told Reuters.
"We have talked to a lot of the major shareholders and theygave us input for the resolution. We have good hope that therewill be large shareholders who will support this before theAGM," said Mark van Baal.
Follow This found little support for its resolution toinvest fossil fuel profits in renewable energy at this year'sannual general meeting in May, with only 3 percent ofshareholders backing it, but the momentum to act on climateissues has grown since.
The Group of 20 leading economies last week asked companiesto disclose how they manage climate change risks as concerns aregrowing among investors that assets are being mispriced becausethe full extent of climate risk is not being factored in.
Some large investors have ramped up pressure on companies tobetter mitigate climate risks, and many lenders have pulled outof funding carbon-intensive projects such as coal plants.
In the United States activist shareholders plan a recordnumber of climate-related resolutions in 2017.
Follow This will propose that Shell set targets to reducegreenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and 2050 and that it reportannually on the progress.
"Shell's financial results greatly depend on the price ofoil. Diversification of the energy system could turn out to bean opportunity to decrease risks and create the cash engines ofthe future," the group said in its resolution proposal.
Dutch pension fund and top 40 Shell shareholder PGGM saidearlier this year it endorsed the demand by Follow This forShell to show more leadership in developing green energy. The fund declined to comment on its votingintentions for next year's resolution.
Shell has already responded to some of the pressure. ChiefExecutive Ben van Beurden told Reuters earlier this month that10 percent of Shell's executives' bonus payments will be linkedto greenhouse gas management from next year.
The oil major will also look more closely at potentialcarbon emissions when deciding which projects to invest in, vanBeurden said. (Reporting by Karolin Schaps; Additional reporting by ThomasEscritt in Amsterdam; Editing by Leslie Adler)
