Santos shareholders to get a vote on the company’s climate change report
Santos shareholders will next year get a vote on the company’s climate report, which the company says shows its leadership on the issue.
Santos will let shareholders have their say on its climate change report at annual meetings from next year, following companies such as Rio Tinto and Glencore, which have ceded to pressure from the Say on Climate campaign led by British billionaire Chris Hohn.
The Adelaide energy company’s shareholders will get a non-binding vote on the report, starting with the 2022 annual meeting, in a move the company says is a “further example of Santos’s leadership on climate’’.
Santos said it made the change after consulting with shareholders, and it was welcomed on Tuesday by the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors.
“Santos is the first Australian oil and gas company to provide shareholders with a vote on the company’s climate change reporting,’’ ACSI chief executive Louise Davidson said.
“It is positive to see that the board and CEO have considered the views of major investors and adopted a leadership position on this critical issue.
“The vote will add to investor engagement on these issues and allow investors to voice concerns where issues arise.”
The Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR) also welcomed the move, but said Santos needed to go further and address its Scope Three emissions, including those generated by the oil and gas it sells.
“While Santos has committed to net-zero operational emissions by 2040, it has no plans to address the largest part of its carbon footprint — the Scope Three emissions from the oil and gas they sell — despite investors demanding it sets targets on those emissions,’’ ACCR said in a statement.
“Any credible future report must address this gap.’’
The ACCR said there was now pressure on companies including Woodside Petroleum and Oil Search to adopt “Say on Climate” votes voluntarily also.
Mr Hohn, founder of the Children’s Investment Fund hedge fund, has been leading the charge to pressure companies to report annually on their emissions and give shareholders a vote on their emissions plans.
He is aiming for a systemic shift in companies’ attitudes to the issue, and has released template AGM resolutions and strategies for how to engage with listed companies.
Santos said in a statement to the ASX it had published its first climate change report, “consistent with the guidelines of the G20 Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) in 2018 and released its fourth annual climate report last month’’.
“Management remuneration is also linked to the company’s emission reduction targets and shareholders are already able to vote on adoption of the remuneration report at the Annual General Meeting,’’ the company said.
Managing director Kevin Gallagher said the company had an “ambitious and credible road map to net-zero emissions by 2040’’, including projects such as the company’s Moomba carbon capture and storage proposal, which could store up to 20 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.
That project is investment-ready, subject to a favourable policy trigger from the federal government, and the company also has a hydrogen strategy its says will position it for the next phase of world energy demand.
Santos last month rejected what has now become an almost annual tradition of activists calling for it to wind down its oil and gas activities, and put a vote to that effect to shareholders.
Market Forces asked Santos to consider a special resolution at its upcoming annual meeting which would compel it to “report annually on how the company’s capital expenditure and operations will be managed in a manner consistent with the climate goals of the Paris Agreement, including detailing how the company will facilitate the efficient managing down of oil and gas operation and assets’’.
Santos rejected that request, which was put by shareholders representing less than 0.01 per cent of the shares on issue.
The company’s Adelaide head office was targeted by Extinction Rebellion protesters last week, some of whom glued themselves to the road, with others setting off flares.
Santos’s annual meeting will be held on April 15 in Adelaide.
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