According to the Corporate Social Responsibility Newswire Service, CSRWire, U.S. oil and gas companies have taken action to reduce global climate change risk:
After extensive negotiations with shareholders, Anadarko Petroleum, Apache, ChevronTexaco and three other leading U.S. oil and gas companies have taken far-reaching actions in recent months to disclose their potential financial exposure from climate change and develop strategies to improve their strategic positioning as international pressure grows to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote renewable energy sources.
The company actions come in the wake of record-high voting support last year for shareholder resolutions seeking more climate risk disclosure from oil and gas companies, which face growing regulatory, competitive and public pressure to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels and other greenhouse gas emitting energy sources. Shareholder resolutions with Apache Corp., Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Marathon Oil Corp. all received record voting support last year, with support at Apache reaching 37 percent.
In addition to acknowledging more publicly that global warming is a serious issue that requires action, six of the country’s largest oil and gas companies are pursuing or have agreed to pursue a wide range of actions that investors believe will reduce companies’ exposure to climate risk and better position them competitively in the years ahead. These agreements encompass a range of items, including:
- Disclosing operational greenhouse gas emissions and/or end-product greenhouse gas emissions
- Setting absolute greenhouse gas emission goals and reduction targets
- Increasing investments in low- and no-carbon energy technologies, including renewables and carbon sequestration
- Integrating climate risk into core business strategies, including factoring carbon costs into capital allocation decision-making.
- Assigning boards direct responsibility to oversee climate change corporate strategies.
