LONDON- Royal Dutch Shell investor RWC said on Thursday it planned to back a climate-related shareholder proposal put forward at the company's annual meeting by activist group Follow This.
RWC said the company's energy transition plans were not ambitious enough, lacked detail and did not put the company on a path to align with the goals of the Paris Agreement within the next decade.
The Follow This resolution, which will be voted on at the company's May 18 AGM, calls for the company to set "inspirational" targets to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that are aligned with the Paris Agreement.
RWC's move follows recent support for the Follow This proposal from the UK's Local Authority Pension Fund Forum, and growing support for Follow This proposals at other oil majors including BP .
"Greater ambition on the company’s medium-term GHG emission reduction targets and clarity on how capital expenditure plans align with those targets would give investors confidence in Shell’s intentions of fully aligning with the Paris Agreement," said John Teahan of the RWC Equity Income team.
"It is also very important to see carbon offset plans that are credible and achievable in an industry-wide context."
RWC also called on Shell's incoming chairman Andrew Mackenzie to perform a full review of the company's transition plans.
"It is becoming ever more important for our clients that the fossil-fuel producers in which we invest articulate a strategy that can be commercially successful and in line with what society needs to do to limit global warming," Teahan said.
"If we are not able to convince our clients that fossil fuel producers are able to do both of those things, we may lose the ability to allocate capital to those companies."
RWC said it held 15 million shares in Shell at May 4.
(Reporting by Simon Jessop; editing by Carolyn Cohn) ((simon.jessop@thomsonreuters.com; +44 (0) 207 542 5052; Reuters Messaging: Reuters Messaging: simon.jessop.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
