Reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by about 2% a year
Energy and environment
Owners remove an obstacle nothing else removes. Others must also act.
Why shareholder democracy is necessary
U.S. emissions come overwhelmingly from company operations, products and power, so corporate reduction plans advance this goal directly, and a national target is still needed to bind the rest of the economy. As You Sow and co-filers asked ExxonMobil and Chevron to report on aligning with net-zero by 2050, and As You Sow's review counted 160 climate resolutions at 24 U.S. oil and gas companies from 2012 to 2018, showing sustained owner pressure on the largest emitters. The pace also collides with a physical bottleneck that is not lobbying: clean power projects now wait years in grid interconnection queues, and developers name local zoning and interconnection delays as the leading causes of cancelled projects.
How this was scoredNecessary
Necessary. Owners remove an obstacle nothing else removes. Others must also act.
We have not yet written down the two answers behind this rating. Recording them on every item, so a reader can check the reasoning and not only the conclusion, is work in progress.
Every rating is the higher of two answers, one for what companies do and one for what they spend to stop the outcome, because the same vote reaches both. See the full method.
Sources
- Common Ground of the American People: Energy & the Environment, Program for Public Consultation / Voice of the People, survey June 2016
- SEC Allows Exxon and Chevron to Bar Shareholders' Request to Report on Alignment With Global Climate Goals, As You Sow, 2020
- 2020: A Clear Vision for Paris Compliant Shareholder Engagement, As You Sow, 2020
- Eight facts about permitting and the clean energy transition, The Hamilton Project, Brookings Institution, 2024-05-22
What civil society organizations are helping owners on this
Filed resolutions at Chevron and ExxonMobil asking for audited reports on how the IEA Net Zero by 2050 scenario would affect their financial statements, and earlier resolutions seeking Paris-aligned emissions targets and low-carbon transition plans.
Led a coalition of roughly two dozen faith-based and responsible investors on a 2022 ExxonMobil proposal for an audited report on the impact of the IEA Net Zero 2050 scenario, which won majority support.
Publishes director voting guides recommending votes against directors at utilities and oil majors expanding fossil generation for data centers or abandoning net-zero commitments.
6 campaigns on record
Vote against directors responsible for climate risk at companies expanding fossil fuel generation for data centers, delaying coal retirements past 2035 or abandoning net-zero commitments.
With Sierra Club
Result: not stated in source
Key Votes and Major Trends for the 2026 Shareholder Meeting Season, Sierra Club, 2026-04
Issue an audited report assessing the impact of the IEA Net Zero 2050 scenario on the assumptions, costs, estimates and valuations underlying the company's financial statements.
With approximately two dozen faith-based and socially responsible investors
Result: Majority support at the May 2022 annual meeting; percentage not stated in source
Disclose the quantitative impact on the company's financial position of global success in meeting the Paris Agreement's net-zero goal, using the IEA Net Zero by 2050 scenario.
Result: 39 percent in favor at the May 2022 annual meeting
39% of Chevron Shareholders Seek Full Accounting of Climate Risk, As You Sow, 2022-05
Set Paris-Agreement-consistent emissions targets; at ExxonMobil specifically, set targets covering Scope 3 emissions from the use of its products (about 90% of the company's total emissions), which the company had so far declined to do.
Result: 33% of Chevron shareholders and 28% of ExxonMobil shareholders voted in favor The proposal was precatory (advisory and non-binding).
we found no documented change at either company directly attributed to this specific 2022 vote
Publish an audited report assessing how the IEA Net Zero by 2050 pathway would affect the assumptions underlying the company's financial statements.
Result: not stated in source
Set and disclose a plan to reduce all of Chevron's greenhouse gas emissions, including Scope 3 emissions from the use of its products, in line with the Paris Agreement.
Result: 61% of shareholders voted in favor The proposal was precatory (advisory and non-binding).
we found no documented change at Chevron directly attributed to this specific 2021 vote
Related subjects on other maps
How this rating was made
Every item on every one of our maps is read against one question: how far does this depend on the people who own companies voting their values? We answer it twice, once for what companies do and once for what they spend to stop the outcome, and take whichever answer is higher, since the same vote reaches both. The score carries its reasoning and its sources so that a reader can check it rather than take it.
- Pivotal. Owners voting their values can deliver most of the outcome.
- Necessary. Owners remove an obstacle nothing else removes, and others must also act.
- Helpful. Owners voting their values help, and others carry most of it.
- Independent. This moves without owners. Other levers carry it.
The advocacy record on this page holds only what a source we opened says happened. Where we searched and found nothing, the page says so rather than leaving a silence. Where a campaign names a filer the source does not name, it says that too. Ratings are ours; the list of subjects is Common Ground of the American People's, and we link to their original.
How we score dependency, in full.