SEC Rejects Exxon Request to Block Global Warming Proposal (1)

The Securities and Exchange Commission rejected Exxon Mobil Corp.’s request to block a proposed shareholder resolution on climate change from a vote at the company’s annual meeting, according to the New York State comptroller’s office.

The resolution, co-proposed by state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, requested that the company publish an annual assessment of the long-term effects of climate change policies on Exxon’s business.

"We are unable to conclude that the proposal is so inherently vague or indefinite that neither the shareholders voting on the proposal, nor the company in implementing the proposal, would be able to determine with any reasonable certainty exactly what actions or measures the proposal requires," the SEC said in a letter dated March 22.

Exxon will provide the board’s position on the shareholder resolutions in a proxy document, which will be distributed to shareholders next month, Alan Jeffers, a spokesman for Irving, Texas-based Exxon, said in an e-mailed statement on Wednesday.

“This is a major victory for investors who are working to address the risks that global warming presents to our portfolios,” DiNapoli said in a statement. “The Securities and Exchange Commission’s determination upholds shareholders’ rights to ask for vital information.”

(Updates with company comment in fourth paragraph.)

--With assistance from Joe Carroll To contact the reporter on this story: David Marino in New York at dmarino4@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Marino at dmarino4@bloomberg.net, Carlos Caminada

By: David Marino

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