BP to provide update on ‘Aiming for A’ response at investor meeting next month

Oil giant BP will provide an update on its response to the ‘Aiming for A’ shareholder resolution on climate resilience at a meeting with socially responsible investors next month.

The resolution, coordinated by CCLA and the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPPF) and co-filed by a range of institutional investors, went through with virtually unanimous shareholder support at BP’s annual general meeting in April following backing from the company itself.

Some of the world’s leading investors were in attendance at the event to support the proposal, which called for BP to get into the top band of environmental data body CDP’s A-E rankings. Similar resolutions were approved at rivals Shell and Statoil during the AGM season – and attention has now turned to how the companies are implementing these commitments.

BP will hold its ‘SRI annual meeting’ on November 13 at which it says it will provide an update on its response to the resolution.

“During this meeting, we will present an update on BP’s activities and address some key issues identified in our engagement sessions throughout the course of 2015,” the firm added also holds annual briefings for responsible investors, typically in April. In September this year it held a field visit for SRI investors in Calgary, Canada. Presentations covered CO2 management, carbon capture and storage and the ‘Sustainable Development of our Heavy Oil business’.

Meanwhile, institutional investors have made their first response to the release of the aggregate report of countries’ national climate change plans by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

Stephanie Pfeifer, Chief Executive of the International Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), representing 110 members from nine countries and over €11trn in assets, said: “Investors are encouraged by the unprecedented world wide effort made by developed and developing countries – including China, India and the USA – to submit their national climate plans ahead of COP21 in Paris.

“Strong national plans provide the kind of vital market signals required from policy makers if investors are to curb the risk of stranded assets in the fossil fuel sector.”