Imperial Oil Ltd. is recommending investors attending its annual meeting in May vote against a shareholder resolution that it adopt a corporate-wide target to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The motion, made by Aequo Shareholder Engagement Services on behalf of Quebec group retirement system Bâtirente, argues that Imperial’s current 2023 emissions-reduction target is a step in the right direction, but that it’s also important to have a long-term strategy.
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In its notice of meeting, however, Imperial recommends voting down the proposal because, although it supports initiatives to control global warming, it’s “premature” to set targets before it has a concrete plan for how to reach them.
The company says it has a portfolio of technologies at various stages of commercialization that could be employed, including the use of solvents to produce bitumen from oilsands wells with less energy and using carbon capture and storage to create emission offsets. Imperial says it’s focused on its current goal to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions intensity by 10 per cent by 2023, relative to 2016 levels.
In a press release, Daniel Simard, chief executive officer at the Bâtirente, said all companies, especially those in the energy sector, have to align their strategies with the Paris Agreement and reduce their emissions by 2050. “Our climate commitment as unveiled in autumn 2020 aims to alleviate the cause of climate warming through the reduction of [greenhouse gas] emissions and mitigate its consequences by building resilience. It’s important for [the] Bâtirente to meet its fiduciary responsibility by taking measures to optimally allocate the capital entrusted to us.”