Major oil investors call for more aggressive climate targets

A number of investors with about $1.4 trillion in combined assets have called for taking actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Major oil companies managed to get record profits this year. These results were mostly driven by the easing of Covid-19 restrictions in many countries. As a result, energy demand and, consequently, its consumption increased significantly. Reduced supplies also stimulated the rise in prices. A lot of companies have raised their payments to shareholders. At the same time, some investors abandoned a more pro-environment stance in favor of providing energy security.

A group of shareholders named Follow This filed a complaint against such companies as Shell, BP, Exxon Mobil, and Chevron, calling for stricter short-term targets for emission control. The founder of Follow This underlined that none of these companies are even close to the targets set by the Paris Agreement. According to this agreement, emissions has to be reduced to zero by 2050.