29 May 2024 Chevron Risks Allegations of Greenwashing by Overcommitting to Carbon Reduction
Washington, D.C. – At today’s annual Chevron shareholder meeting, the National Center for Public Policy Research’s Free Enterprise Project (FEP) will present a proposal (Item 4) asking for the energy corporation to report the risks arising from its voluntary carbon-reduction commitments.
Stefan Padfield
“Chevron is not required to make Scope 3 emissions reduction commitments and yet does so anyway, despite the fact that this means that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) can require additional disclosures related to Scope 3 emissions,” notes Free Enterprise Project Deputy Director Stefan Padfield, who will present the proposal.
“Those additional disclosures, together with Chevron’s voluntary commitments, open Chevron up to investigation by the SEC for greenwashing, which has become a recent point of emphasis for the SEC and has led to penalties in the tens of millions of dollars,” continues Padfield. “All of this unnecessary risk is further undermined by Chevron’s own admission that ‘the net zero emissions scenario is remote and highly unlikely.’ In addition, there are reasons to question the validity of the climate change assumptions underlying Chevron’s commitments.”
In its supporting statement, FEP gives examples of the kinds of penalties Chevron risks incurring from the SEC’s Climate and ESG Task Force due to its carbon-reduction commitments:
The Task Force has taken numerous enforcement actions including charging Goldman Sachs for policies and procedures failures related to ESG investments, resulting in a $4 million penalty, and charging DWS Investment Management Americas Inc. in part for misstatements regarding its ESG investment process that resulted in an overall $25 million in penalties.
“The best way to remedy Chevron’s potential breach of duty is to produce a report for all shareholders specifically focusing on the company’s decision to voluntarily commit to carbon reduction,” concludes Padfield.
More information about this proposal, as well as other key votes, can be found in FEP’s mobile and web app, ProxyNavigator.
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