(Reuters) – The Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR) expressed dissent on Thursday against all directors due for election at the upcoming annual general meeting of Woodside Energy, citing failures in managing climate risks, among other reasons.
The ACCR filed members’ statements attributed to Woodside’s persistent shortcomings, including poor shareholder returns and inadequate management of climate risk.
Woodside’s total shareholder returns over the past 15 years have been 168% lower than the ASX100 and 83% lower than the MSCI World Energy, indicating significant underperformance against both local and global markets, the activist investor’s statement outlined.
ACCR added that the company continues to follow the same high-cost, high-carbon, low-value strategy that has led to its financial underperformance.
On the issue of climate risk management, ACCR highlighted that 58% of shareholders in 2024 voted against Woodside’s Climate Transition Action Plan, marking the world’s first majority vote against a company’s climate plan.
Woodside directors, who will be voted against by ACCR in their upcoming re-election or election in 2025, are Ann Pickard, the chair of the sustainability committee, Ben Wyatt, the current chair of the audit and risk committee and Tony O’Neill, a member of the sustainability committee, ACCR said in the statement.
(Reporting by Adwitiya Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)
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