The complaint, filed in a U.S. District Court in Texas, said a proposal by activist investors calling for the oil giant to cut emissions faster would not create shareholder value.
Exxon Mobil is suing two activist investors to prevent their proposal calling for emissions cuts at the oil giant from going to a vote of shareholders.
In a complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas on Sunday, Exxon accused the investors, Arjuna Capital and Follow This, of abusing the process for proposing shareholder votes to advance their priorities with votes “calculated to diminish the company’s existing business.”
Arjuna filed a proposal in December for a nonbinding resolution that urged Exxon to accelerate its plans to reduce its carbon emissions and expand the scope of the emissions it measures to include its suppliers and customers. Follow This joined in support of the proposal shortly thereafter, according to the complaint.
The proposal “does not seek to improve ExxonMobil’s economic performance or create shareholder value,” Exxon said in the complaint, but is instead “constraining and micromanaging” the company’s operations.
This is also driven out of a requirement to always maximize returns for shareholders, even if long term it doesn’t make sense for the company.
It’s almost like capitalism isn’t designed with the company or workers in mind, and will devour both for another cent. 😜