This week’s voting down of Woodside Energy’s misnamed Climate Transition Action Plan at the oil and gas giant’s 70th annual general meeting is historic. It represents a milestone in shareholder activism – and a clarion call that the tide is turning on laggard fossil fuel majors that fail to responsibly and credibly address the greatest single risk they face: climate change.

Fifty-eight per cent of shareholders sent an unequivocal message – “not good enough”. Although the result is non-binding, the board is now under clear, unavoidable pressure to seriously rethink its approach and come up with a credible strategy to transition the company as the world accelerates its decarbonisation investments.