Shareholders Challenge Chevron Over Risky Energy Policies

Washington, D.C. — At today’s annual meeting of Chevron shareholders, a representative of the National Center for Public Policy Research’s Free Enterprise Project (FEP) will present a proposal questioning the wisdom of Chevron’s risky climate commitments.

FEP’s proposal, Item 6, requests that Chevron assess the risk that the company’s investments in renewable energy and related infrastructure could result in reverse stranded assets, and issue a report of this analysis that includes potential mitigation strategies.

“It is one thing to evaluate whether oil and gas assets will be stranded by an energy transition,” FEP writes in its supporting statement, “but it is another thing to evaluate whether renewable energy assets will themselves be stranded if it turns out the push to net zero was counterproductive and value-destroying.”

Stefan Padfield

“While Chevron should be commended for its willingness to pursue value-enhancing initiatives in the face of green energy transition zealots, that does not absolve the Company of its duty to make fully informed decisions when it comes to the investments it is making in renewable energy,” FEP Executive Director Stefan Padfield will say at today’s meeting. “While the company acknowledges risks associated with expenditures tied to its proclamation that ‘the future of energy is lower carbon,’ these acknowledgements do not provide the specific analysis requested by our proposal. Without that analysis, shareholders are left significantly in the dark regarding Chevron’s exposure to reverse stranded asset risks.”

In addition to asking Chevron shareholders to support Item 6, FEP has published an entire voting scorecard for Chevron shareholders as part of its Proxy Navigator voting guide, including these recommendations:

ITEM 1: Election of directors: AGAINST.
ITEM 2: Ratify PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the independent registered public accounting firm for 2025: ABSTAIN.
ITEM 3: Approve, on an advisory basis, named executive officer compensation: ABSTAIN.
ITEM 4: Amend the company’s restated certificate of incorporation to provide for officer exculpation: ABSTAIN.
ITEM 5: Commission a third-party report on human rights practices: AGAINST.
ITEM 6: Report on renewable energy stranded asset risks (our proposal): FOR.
ITEM 7: Allow holders of 10% of our common stock to call special meetings: AGAINST.

About

The National Center for Public Policy Research, founded in 1982, is a non-partisan, free-market, independent conservative think-tank. Ninety-four percent of its support comes from individuals, less than four percent from foundations and less than two percent from corporations. It receives over 350,000 individual contributions a year from over 60,000 active recent contributors.

FEP, the original and premier opponent of the woke takeover of American corporate life, aims to push corporations to respect their fiduciary obligations and to stay out of political and social engineering. More information about this proposal can be found in FEP’s mobile and web app, ProxyNavigator.

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