(Bloomberg) — Major investors are opposing Woodside Energy Group’s climate plan and the re-election of its chairman, raising questions about Australia’s biggest energy company’s strategy to ramp up oil and gas production. There is.
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Funds including the California Teachers' Retirement System and Australia's Aware Super all voted against Richard Goyder's re-appointment before Wednesday's annual general meeting and rejected his emissions reduction proposals. Other shareholders also supported the directors but rejected the Green Plan.
Woodside's climate change strategy has been criticized as being too slow or opaque, and some investors have taken issue with Goyder's handling of the issue. Climate change activists are also opposing Woodside's push to advance $24 billion of expansion projects, including Western Australia's flagship Scarborough liquefied natural gas development.
Sean Manuel, head of Australian equities at AustralianSuper, which is the country's largest pension fund and owns more than 3% of producers, told a parliamentary hearing on Monday: “Woodside's plan to be net zero by 2050 remains a concern.” . “Based on that, we decided to vote against it and will continue our discussions with the company.”
The vote on the climate change plan is not binding, but Mr Woodside insists he will take investor feedback into consideration when developing policy. The final results were expected to be filed with the Australian Securities Exchange later on Wednesday.
Mr Goyder, who is stepping down as chairman of Qantas later this year following concerns from investors and customers, told the Woodside event that he had held more than 80 meetings on climate change since early last year.
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“All plans and ideas are improved through scrutiny and constructive feedback, and this has been the case at Woodside over the past 12 months,” he told the annual general meeting. Goyder confirmed he intends to remain in his post and has “never felt more energy and excitement.”
Woodside said in a February presentation that it aims to reduce net asset Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 15% by 2025 and 30% by 2030. This metric reflects the company's percentage of jointly owned operations, including the use of offsets, and from 2016 he compares it with the annual average for 2020.
The company also aims to take investment decisions by 2030 on projects that could reduce Scope 3 emissions by 5 million tonnes per year. According to the company, pollution primarily from burning the fossil fuels it sells is the largest source of carbon dioxide emissions, reaching approximately 72.8 million tons in 2023.
“Woodside's net zero target is 500 words long and incomprehensible,” Polly Hemming, head of the climate and energy program at the Australia Institute, a think tank that opposes new fossil fuel development, told a parliamentary hearing. . “It's like ChatGPT wrote it.”
Producers expect gas demand to increase by 50% over the next decade due to increased consumption in Asia. The bullish outlook spurred Woodside's recent failed attempt to merge with smaller rival Santos in a partnership that would have created one of the Asia-Pacific region's largest LNG producers. .
(Updates 7th paragraph with Goyder's comments on shareholder meeting.)
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