* Follow This calls on companies to align with Paris
agreement
* Resolutions filed with Shell, BP, Equinor, Exxon, Chevron
* Oil majors' carbon emissions: https://tmsnrt.rs/2l6A9v0
(Adds Equinor comment)
By Ron Bousso
LONDON, Dec 16 (Reuters) - An activist group is increasing
the pressure on five big U.S. and European oil companies with
shareholder resolutions urging them to meet the Paris climate
goals and cut carbon emissions.
Dutch group Follow This is targeting U.S. giants ExxonMobil
, Chevron and their European rivals Royal Dutch
Shell, BP and Equinor with climate
resolutions ahead of next year's annual general meetings (AGMs)
scheduled for the first half of 2020.
Follow This owns minor stakes in the companies which enables
it to file shareholder resolutions.
The Exxon and Chevron resolutions are vaguer than the
European text, underscoring an Atlantic divide over companies'
approach to climate change.
The U.S. version calls on the Exxon and Chevron boards to
"align its strategy with emission levels compatible with the
goal of the Paris Climate Agreement", which aims to keep global
warming below 2 degrees Celsius.
The European companies, which all agreed in recent years on
various emission reduction targets, are however urged to set and
publish clear long-term targets to meet the Paris goals.
The resolutions urge all companies to include all types of
emissions in their climate strategies, including those from
fuels and products sold to customers, known as Scope 3
emissions, which are 6 to 8 times bigger than emissions from the
companies' operations.
Follow This first filed a climate resolution with Shell in
2016 but last year it expanded its efforts to other companies as
the climate debate gathered momentum.
Its resolutions have always been opposed by the companies'
boards and have never won a majority support, but they have
often led to debates during annual meetings.
It is still unclear if the U.S. resolutions will be put to
vote as companies are allowed to request regulators to bar
shareholder resolutions.
Exxon last year successfully blocked a resolution by the
Church Commissioners for England and the New York State
comptroller's office.
Follow This also renewed pressure on Shell with a call to
set out clear short, medium and long-term targets for greenhouse
gas emission targets.
Last year the group did not file a resolution with the
Anglo-Dutch company after it had agreed in 2017 together with a
large group of investors on a long-term ambition to halve its
emission intensity by 2050.
Shell confirmed a resolution had been filed and was being
reviewed. BP declined to comment.
Equinor confirmed it had received a proposed resolution from
Follow This, which will be reviewed ahead of its AGM in May.
Chevron confirmed a resolution had been filed. A spokesman
for the company said it was "too early to comment directly on
stockholder proposals," adding that the company had established
goals to reduce emission intensity in its upstream operations.
Exxon did not comment on the Follow This resolution but said
that "all shareholder proposals will go through the proper
process in advance of the annual meeting."
(Additional reporting by Jennifer Hiller in Houston, Nerijus
Adomaitis in Oslo; editing by David Evans)
BP (BP.)
