(Bloomberg) — Exxon Mobil Corp. has didn’t embrace new, climate-conscious administrators and is in hazard of going the way in which of Eastman Kodak Co. and Blockbuster Video if it sits out the transition away from fossil fuels, stated CalSTRS Chief Investment Officer Christopher Ailman.
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The nation’s second greatest public-pension fund supported activist investor Engine No. 1’s profitable marketing campaign to interchange one-fourth of Exxon’s board earlier this 12 months as half of a bigger effort to drive an overhaul of the oil big’s strategy to local weather change.
Exxon hasn’t “embraced them holistically and recognized that this is shareholders talking to them and wanting a change,” Ailman, the chief steward of funding {dollars} on the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, stated throughout a Bloomberg Television interview on Friday. “If these companies want to survive and not be Eastman Kodak or Blockbuster Video, darn it, they better get their act together and become energy companies, not just oil and gas firms.”
“The board is working constructively for the benefit of all shareholders and focused on shareholder returns through the energy transition, with an emphasis on capital discipline and reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” Exxon spokesman Casey Norton stated in an e-mail.
“As part of the corporate plan announced earlier this year, the board endorsed increased investments in lower emissions projects, including those initially focused on carbon capture and storage, biofuels and hydrogen,” he added. “We actively engage with shareholders and provide updates on our business plans, which consider their feedback and input.”
(Adds Exxon spokesman’s remark in closing paragraph)
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