{"id":76343,"date":"2024-04-24T18:27:44","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T08:27:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marketforces.org.au\/?p=76343"},"modified":"2025-01-09T09:48:03","modified_gmt":"2025-01-08T22:48:03","slug":"woodside-suffers-world-record-breaking-vote-against-climate-plan-embarrassingly-large-vote-against-chair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marketforces.org.au\/woodside-suffers-world-record-breaking-vote-against-climate-plan-embarrassingly-large-vote-against-chair\/","title":{"rendered":"Woodside suffers world record-breaking vote against climate plan, embarrassingly large vote against Chair"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Shareholders have today expressed their contempt for Woodside\u2019s repeated failure to heed their concerns by fiercely rejecting the company\u2019s climate strategy. Beating its own world record vote against a climate plan in 2022, a staggering 58% of Woodside\u2019s shareholders voted against the company\u2019s poor excuse for a climate transition plan this year.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woodside also suffered a substantially embarrassing 17% vote against the re-election of its Chair, Richard Goyder. This protest vote is an indictment of Woodside’s failure to take the global energy transition seriously, given the average ASX 50 director is usually re-elected with 96.5% support.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After years of increasing shareholder pressure to bring its business plans into line with a credible net zero pathway, Woodside has today reaffirmed its penchant for stubbornly ignoring shareholder concerns and ploughing ahead with its climate-wrecking oil and gas growth strategy at all costs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Market Forces CEO Will van de Pol speaking at a press conference ahead of Woodside’s AGM today.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The following comments can be attributed to Will van de Pol, CEO, Market Forces:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn a world first, a majority of shareholders have rejected Woodside\u2019s dangerous climate plan, while some of the world\u2019s biggest investors have turned their backs on Richard Goyder\u2019s leadership.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe person who\u2019s presided over Woodside\u2019s skyrocketing emissions and woeful responses to climate demands can turn up and Chair the next board meeting, showing too many investors have failed to hold the company\u2019s leadership to account.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInvestors have attempted to oust directors multiple years in a row and must escalate pressure further to prevent Woodside from barrelling down its climate wrecking path.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ignoring shareholder concerns for half a decade<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Today is yet another episode in the years-long saga of Woodside blatantly disregarding shareholder concerns about its climate risk management plan. The company\u2019s sheer stubbornness in sticking to its oil and gas growth strategy in the face of major shareholder backlash (paired with its refusal to adequately respond to that backlash) is telling of Woodside’s insincerity about transitioning its business in line with the climate goals it claims to be committed to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woodside\u2019s refusal to engage in constructive debate with shareholders in the room today is telling of an outdated company oblivious to the scale and pace of the energy transition happening around it. Going back to 2020, 50% of shareholders voted for Woodside to implement a Scope 3 emissions reduction target and make a Paris-aligned capex commitment. Since then, we\u2019ve seen:<\/p>\n\n\n\n