Shell's Chief Executive Officer, Wael Sawan, stated at the annual general meeting on Tuesday that recent global events demonstrate the continued critical importance of meeting oil demand in the coming decades.
Later on Tuesday, shareholders are set to vote on a resolution proposed by the activist shareholder group Follow This and 21 institutional investors representing $1.2 trillion in assets. The resolution calls for Shell to disclose how its strategy would perform under scenarios of declining oil and gas demand.
Sawan indicated that the issues raised by Follow This are already comprehensively covered by Shell's existing disclosures, which allow shareholders to model the company's financial resilience under any price scenario they choose.
Sawan further noted that if the Follow This resolution were to pass, it would contradict principles of good governance by potentially locking the company into specific scenarios that may change.
Proxy advisor ISS has recommended voting against Resolution 23, aligning with the position of Shell's board.
Shell's decision to allow a shareholder vote on the resolution contrasts with BP's approach. BP's board chose not to include a similar Follow This resolution on its agenda, leading some shareholders and influential proxy advisor groups to support voting against the board's recommendations. BP Chairman Helge Lund received a lower-than-usual level of support for his re-election at the meeting.
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