Church of England dumps Exxon’s stocks over poor climate record

Oct 10, 2020 News

Kaieteur News – The Church of England, one of ExxonMobil’s investors, has dumped all its stocks in the company over its poor record on climate change. A spokesperson is quoted as saying the proceeds were moved to an initiative which aligns with the objectives of the Paris Climate pact. The Church manages US$3.6B in funds.
Bloomberg said that the Church of England indicated it frequently reviews the holdings of its multiple investing bodies in line with ethical principles.
This news agency yet again underscores the urgent need for Guyana to develop a strong regulatory framework to keep ExxonMobil in check, as it operates three oil blocks here. Guyana’s recent and ongoing issue with ExxonMobil’s flaring indicate that the company is willing to let its operations be as lax as the regulator would let it, given that Exxon has opted to exploit a loophole in its permit so it could continue to flare.
What has happened recently with the Church of England is not the first occurrence of its kind when it comes to Exxon and its climate record.
Last year, one of Exxon’s top European shareholders, Legal and General Investment Management Limited (LGIM) came out shaming the oil company for how it addresses climate change. Then, it voted to dump shares its Future World Funds has in Exxon. It had noted that the initiative is there for clients who maintain a commitment to environmental, social and governance themes, and Exxon had failed on that account.
The company had released a report, which found that Exxon is a ‘laggard’ as it has failed to meet climate reporting obligations. The asset manager stated that ExxonMobil has not met some of its key minimum requirements, including on emissions reporting and targets. This is very similar to the reasoning given by the Church of England for its divestment.
ExxonMobil’s poor response to the risks of climate change was one of the top issues raised at its Annual Meeting of Shareholders in May. Some among the Church of England had tried to get shareholders to pass a motion requiring Exxon to give details on its lobbying disclosures, among other action to respond to what appears to be a lack of ambition on climate change.
In this regard, the bold Executive Director of Corporate Governance for the New York State Common Retirement Fund, Liz Gordon had said “Exxon is a laggard in addressing climate risks. Our company has no enterprise-wide targets for greenhouse gas emissions reduction from its own operations, does not even disclose the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the use of its products, much less articulate any ambition to reduce those emissions and (it) invests to grow its hydrocarbons production at a rate that is clearly inconsistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement.”
An article done by Bloomberg recently could give insight as to why. It stated that ExxonMobil is playing out an investment strategy that it knows will result in a massive increase in emission by 2025. ExxonMobil called the article inaccurate but did not release the numbers it said considered its “mitigation and abatement measures that would have been evaluated in the planning process.”
The publication said that this is “setting one of the largest corporate emitters against international efforts to slow the pace of warming.”

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