At Exxon’s Spring 2017 AGM, 62% of shareholders voted in favour of Exxon publishing an annual assessment of the “impacts of technological advances and global climate change policies”.  

After an initial decision to vote against the resolution, the Company’s Board of Directors reconsidered the proposal (in a regulatory filing on Monday evening); deciding to “further enhance the Company’s disclosures”. Input was sought from a number of parties “such as the proponents and major shareholders” with the Board ultimately deciding to include climate policy in annual reporting, acknowledging that the reporting improvements will include  “energy demand sensitivities, implications of two degree Celsius scenarios, and positioning for a lower-carbon future.”

Exxon are set to issue these new disclosures in the “near future”. Although disclosure specifics are yet to be released, the largest U.S oil and gas producer acknowledging the need for transparency surrounding climate change policy reporting can only be seen as a positive step, and reflects the growing investor demand for companies to take part in Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) reporting, and other similar frameworks.

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