Mar 11, 2024
Woodside Investor Calls for New Directors With Climate Skills
, Bloomberg News
(Bloomberg) -- An investor in Woodside Energy Group Ltd. has urged Australia’s largest oil and gas producer to consider adding new directors with skills suited to climate-related challenges.
HESTA put forward proposed alternative board members during discussions over the past few months, it said Tuesday. The pension fund manages assets worth about A$81 billion ($54 billion) and holds about 0.7% of the producer.
“Woodside has an opportunity to meet the strategic challenge of the climate transition,” HESTA said in a statement. “To capture that opportunity, we believe Woodside should prioritize adding new energy and business transformation skills.” The Australian Financial Review reported the details earlier.
Woodside — one of Australia’s largest polluters — is targeting a 15% reduction to its net equity scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 2025, and is planning new measures to curb scope 3 pollution, Chief Executive Officer Meg O’Neill told investors Tuesday at a briefing on climate policy.
The producer continues to review qualified director candidates, including those proposed by external parties, O’Neill said on a call with reporters. “We will continue to evolve the board,” she said.
Some holders have criticized Woodside’s climate targets as too weak and questioned its plans to expand production of oil and gas. Chairman Richard Goyder faces opposition to his reelection from the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility, an investor advocacy group, at an annual meeting next month.
Read More: How Australia Pension Funds Are Becoming Global Force: QuickTake
The proposal by HESTA is the latest sign of the growing clout of Australia’s A$3.6 trillion retirement sector, including on climate-related strategies. AustralianSuper, the country’s largest pension fund, last year blocked Brookfield Asset Management Ltd.’s plan to acquire utility Origin Energy Ltd. and take it private, arguing energy transition-exposed assets should remain in public markets.
“HESTA’s intervention is consistent with the need to protect its members’ retirement years from the environmental and economic consequences of unchecked climate change,” Australian Conservation Foundation corporate campaigner Jonathan Moylan said.
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