BP shareholders are being urged to vote against executive pay packages this week on the grounds they are too high and not taking climate change seriously.
The UK-based firm suffered a rare and humiliating shareholder rebellion last year when chief executive Bob Dudley’s £14m pay package was voted down, against the backdrop of record company losses.
Another uprising is unlikely at the AGM on Wednesday, when investors will be asked to approve the £9m salary for Dudley in 2016 – 40% lower than in 2015 – as higher oil prices pushed the company back into profit.
However, for the first time in three years, shareholders will also decide on a binding new pay policy for 2017-20, which would lead to a £2.9m cut in Dudley’s maximum payout.
Campaigners are encouraging investors to vote against the policy on the grounds that company strategy appears “misaligned” with the Paris climate deal’s goal of avoiding dangerous global warming.
ShareAction acknowledged BP was doing better than rival Shell on removing oil and gas volume production targets from its pay policy, but said BP’s corporate strategy was failing to adapt the firm for a lower carbon world.
The group added that a green light would lock in a pay policy at a “critical” time for addressing climate change, as 2020 is seen as the last year by which carbon emissions must peak for the world to be likely to keep temperature rises below 2C.
The Church of England, which has BP in the top holdings of its £9bn funds, said it would be voting against both Dudley’s pay and the remuneration policy.
“We’ve noted this year that there has been some improvement on executive remuneration. That said, it is still an extremely large award when you look at the whole package and compared to peers so we obviously remained concerned,” said Adam Matthews, head of engagement for the church commissioners.
But with just 50% of shareholders needed to approve the remuneration policy, it is unlikely to be derailed.
The three big proxy shareholder advisory services – Glass Lewis, ISS and IVIS – have recommended a vote in favour or have no concerns with the policy, the first time all three have been supportive for several years.
Separately, the authoritative Carbon Disclosure Project placed Shell one spot above BP at four out of 10 in a new league table of how oil and gas companies have responded to investor concerns on climate change. The group called Shell’s link between remuneration and carbon emissions a “landmark”, and noted that BP had no equivalent measure.
Anglo-Dutch rival Shell’s AGM, which takes place on 23 May, will also have its remuneration and climate change policies scrutinised.
