Brunel vote at BP AGM

Brunel announced a week before BP’s AGM that it would be voting against the reappointment of BP’s chair, Helge Lund.

Faith Ward, chief responsible officer at Brunel explained: “We acknowledge BP’s ambition to be net-zero by 2050 or before and the increased commitment to invest in solutions, but we are using our votes at the AGM to flag our concerns about the changes in strategy.

“There was no shareholder engagement regarding the reductions in commitments relating to oil and gas production – a material change to the plan presented to shareholders in 2022, and one that seriously imperils BP’s credibility as a company that will deliver on its promises.”

BP said in a statement that “it is essential that we use our voting rights as investors to support collective action on systemic issues such as those raised, and hopefully this can lead to real world change.”

As might be expected, the vote against Lund failed. However, it was the second best supported vote against management, polling 9.57% of votes, from a total of almost 65% of issued share capital which cast a vote.

The most popular vote against management was for the directors’ remuneration policy, which registered just over 18% of dissenting shareholders.