Investors are urging oil majors to make their carbon emission forecasts public. The call follows a report by Bloomberg on leaked Exxon’s document showing that it internally tracks future emission but never disclose it to investors or the public. According to the report, Exxon expects its carbon-dioxide emissions to rise by 17% in the next five years. Commenting on the news, Exxon said the figure is a preliminary projection that had since changed.
Oil companies usually release their guidance for future production and earnings, as well as planned capital expenditure. They also publish cumulative emission figures for the past period but do not disclose forecasts on future carbon-dioxide emissions from their operations. BP, Shell, and Total, which have announced major transition into low-carbon energy, also do not publish their CO2 emission forecasts.
Exxon releases annual figures for direct emissions from its operations, called Scope 1 and Scope 2. However, it does not publish Scope 3 data covering emissions generated by customers using its fossil fuels. Most competitors, including Chevron, BP, Shell, and Total, disclose their Scope 3 figure, which is essential for investors to the companies’ impact on global warming.
John Hoeppner from fund manager Legal & General said it would like to see Exxon’s emission projections made public. Legal & General is among ExxonMobil’s top 20 shareholders. Andrew Logan from Ceres said an information gap raised a question about Exxon’s motives in hiding its emissions forecasts.
The Church of England Pensions Board, with $3.6 billion assets under management, is initiating steps to divest its Exxon shares due to incomplete disclosures around emissions, Bloomberg reported. The world’s largest fund manager BlackRock Inc. had a 6.8% stake in Exxon as of June 31. The fund manager recently joined the Climate Action 100+ activist platform, highlighting its concern on climate risk. Not properly disclosing emissions data poses a risk of driving away some more large investors.
