AGMs 2025: Voting against management at oil and gas companies is no longer an option

Reclaim Finance calls on investors to shift from ineffective shareholder engagement to voting against management-proposed resolutions at 2025 AGMs for oil and gas companies. The organization highlights that 95% of upstream oil and gas companies are developing new projects despite IPCC and IEA warnings that such expansion is incompatible with a 1.5°C world. It specifically notes that majors like BP, TotalEnergies, Eni, and Equinor are backtracking on climate commitments by planning production increases. The document asserts that current collaborative initiatives, such as Climate Action 100+, have failed to align corporate strategies with 1.5°C trajectories, making strategic voting a necessary lever to signal that climate must be an integral part of corporate strategy.

• The vast majority of companies in the upstream oil and gas sector are pursuing new projects that conflict with 1.5°C climate goals, while industry investment in clean energy remains critically low at 2.5% of total capital expenditure as of 2022, far below the 50% recommended by the IEA for 2030.
• Several oil and gas majors are actively reversing previous climate commitments; BP has revised its strategy to increase production by 2030 and reduce low-carbon investments, while TotalEnergies, Eni, and Equinor are planning production increases after previous periods of stagnation or decline.
• Traditional shareholder engagement and collaborative initiatives like Climate Action 100+ have failed to stop fossil fuel expansion or align companies with a 1.5°C trajectory, with some companies like BP and TotalEnergies actively resisting climate-related votes.
• Voting against strategic management-proposed resolutions is presented as an under-utilized but effective tool for investors to influence corporate governance and signal that climate priorities must be integrated into corporate strategy.

APA

Manickawasagar, A. (2025). AGMs 2025: Voting against management at oil and gas companies is no longer an option. Reclaim Finance. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2025/04/04/agms-2025-voting-against-management-at-oil-and-gas-companies-is-no-longer-an-option/

Chicago

Manickawasagar, Aatiraï. AGMs 2025: Voting against management at oil and gas companies is no longer an option. Reclaim Finance, 2025. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2025/04/04/agms-2025-voting-against-management-at-oil-and-gas-companies-is-no-longer-an-option/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Manickawasagar |first1=Aatiraï |title=AGMs 2025: Voting against management at oil and gas companies is no longer an option |publisher=Reclaim Finance |date=4 April 2025 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2025/04/04/agms-2025-voting-against-management-at-oil-and-gas-companies-is-no-longer-an-option/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{manickawasagar2025agms, author = {Manickawasagar, Aatiraï}, title = {{AGMs 2025: Voting against management at oil and gas companies is no longer an option}}, publisher = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2025}, month = apr, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2025/04/04/agms-2025-voting-against-management-at-oil-and-gas-companies-is-no-longer-an-option/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }