Woodside’s Climate Plan Rejected by Shareholders

Shareholders of Australian petroleum giant Woodside Energy have rejected a climate plan proposed by the company’s management amidst pressure from climate activists.

At Woodside’s annual general meeting on April 24, shareholders voted on various issues, including the chairman position and an action plan for the company’s transition to net zero.

While the incumbent chairman, Richard Goyder, was re-elected with 83.4 percent support, 58.4 percent of shareholders opposed the climate plan.

Although the vote on the climate plan was non-binding and advisory, it indicated that a majority of Woodside’s shareholders did not agree with the company’s decarbonisation vision towards net zero emissions.

The company aims to decrease its scope one and two emissions by 15 percent by 2025 and 30 percent by 2030.

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The company also plans to increase investment in new energy products and lower carbon services from $335 million (US$218 million) in 2023 to $5 billion by 2030.

Following the vote, Mr. Goyder expressed disappointment at the shareholders’ decision.

“Naturally, we’re disappointed, but respect the result,” he said.

“The vote reflects the challenges and complexities of the energy transition, and today’s outcome is one that we take very seriously.”

Mr. Goyder noted that he had over 80 meetings with Woodside’s shareholders and proxy advisors in the past year to discuss the climate action plan openly and honestly before the April 24 meeting.

“We would love to be investing more money in renewable energy right now, if only we had the customers, and current customers were prepared to make the trade-offs, particularly financial,” he said during the meeting.

Nevertheless, Mr. Goyder acknowledged that many of Woodside’s customers were facing significant costs as they transition to cleaner energy sources.

Climate Activists Storm Woodside’s Meeting

Woodside’s annual meeting faced disruptions with reports of activists targeting Woodside executives and their families with chants and interruptions.

There were reports of activists shouting out the names of Woodside executives’ children and accusing the company of harming children with its projects.

CEO Meg O’Neil condemned these actions in a press conference as “completely out of line,” emphasizing that families have the right to privacy.

“We believe that climate change is an important topic. There‘ll be different opinions. There’ll be a robust debate, and we welcome the robust debate but people need to understand where the line is,” she stated.

Western Australia Premier Roger Cook echoed similar sentiments, emphasizing the importance of respectful behavior during protests without intimidation.

Aside from the disruptions at the meeting, around 200 protestors were seen holding signs and chanting slogans outside the venue to oppose Woodside.

Meanwhile, Harriet Kater from the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility criticized Woodside’s climate action plan as “flawed.”

“For Woodside’s board to maintain that the only path to shareholder value is persevering with low value, high-risk oil, and gas projects suggests a lack of skills, poor judgement, and risky group-think.”