ConocoPhillips GHG Reduction Goals 2013
|Filer||Presbyterian Church (USA)|
|Sector||Oil and Gas|
|Subject(s)||Climate Change; Greenhouse Gas Emissions|
|Resolved Clause Summary||Greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals|
Whereas: The American Geophysical Union, the world’s largest organization of earth, ocean and climate scientists, states that it is now “virtually certain” that global warming is caused by emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) and that the warming will continue.
The International Energy Agency warned in its 2007 World Energy Outlook that “urgent action is needed if GHG concentrations are to be stabilized at a level that would prevent dangerous interference with the climate system.
While the Kyoto Protocol obliges Annex I signatories (industrialized countries) to reduce national GHG emissions below 1990 levels by 2012, its reduction targets may be inadequate to avert the most serious impacts of global warming.
In May 2011, a National Academy of Sciences report warned that the risk of dangerous climate change impacts with every ton of greenhouse gases emitted, and reiterated the pressing need for substantial action to limit the magnitude of climate change and prepare to adapt to its impacts. The report also emphasized that, “the sooner that serious efforts to reduce (GHG) emissions proceed, the lower the risks posed by climate change, and the less pressure there will be to make larger, more rapid, and potentially more expensive reductions later.”
ConocoPhillips reported total GHG emissions of 66 million tons in 2011. This is a reduction largely due to divestment of a commercial power plant. However, the upstream emissions grew slightly despite several projects to increase energy efficiency. In addition, upstream GHG emissions per unit of production increased, a trend that has been present since 2008.
The company states that each of its business units are required to develop climate change action plans that include specific goals related to GHG management in their plans. However, there is no requirement to have a quantitative goal for reducing GHG emissions. There is no disclosure of which units have reduction goals and which do not.
Resolved: shareholders request that the Board of Directors adopt quantitative goals, based on current technologies, for reducing total greenhouse gas emissions from the Company’s operations; and that the Company report (omitting proprietary information and prepared at reasonable cost) to shareholders by September 30, 2013, on its plan to achieve these goals.
For several years, ConocoPhillips has acknowledged the importance of addressing global climate change, and the need to develop GHG targets for its operations, a process the company says is underway. However, no targets for reductions have been established after all this time, and there appears to be no timeline for setting one. We believe setting targets is an important step in the development of a comprehensive long term strategy to significantly reduce GHG emissions from operations and products.
As the downstream operations were spun off on April 30, 2012, quantitative goals are even more important given the trend since 2008 of rising emissions per unit of production from the upstream operations that now constitute ConocoPhillps.
Your support by voting “Yes” will signal to our company that we should move forward.