Texas court dismisses Exxon's lawsuit against climate activist shareholders
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/18/exxon-activist-investor-arjuna-lawsuit
Texas court dismisses Exxons lawsuit against climate activist shareholders
Arjuna Capital agreed not to pursue effort to put climate science on agenda at companys annual meetings
Edward Helmore and agencies
Tue 18 Jun 2024 12.03 EDT
A federal court in Texas has dismissed a lawsuit brought by ExxonMobil against activist shareholders pushing for the oil giant to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well as contributions to anthropogenic climate change.
The lawsuit aimed at Arjuna Capital was dismissed after a lawyer for the activist investor group agreed not to pursue its effort to put climate science on the agenda at the companys annual meetings.
At heart, the dispute centered on whether climate risk is a legitimate business concern and part of a corporate pushback against shareholder proposals. Exxons lawsuit had raised alarm among investors that by going through the courts rather than regulators at the USs Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) because it could restrict the ability of shareholders to raise concerns with public companies.
In the ruling, US district court judge Mark Pittman said Exxons claim was no longer valid after Arjuna unconditionally and irrevocably agreed not to submit a future proposal regarding Exxons greenhouse gas emissions.
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