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Rockefeller family accuses ExxonMobil of ignoring alternative energy options
EARTHS FUTURE:
The familys call for an independent chairman has won support from several institutional investors. They also want a renewable energy policy
THE GUARDIAN, NEW YORK
Friday, May 02, 2008, Page 11
Descendants of legendary oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller have accused oil giant ExxonMobil of adopting a myopic approach toward alternative sources of energy and of refusing to engage in any meaningful discussion about the future of the planet.
At a feisty press conference in the penthouse suite of a luxury Manhattan hotel, members of the billionaire Rockefeller family complained that the worlds biggest oil company has repeatedly declined to listen to concerns about the direction of the business, which has its roots in their ancestors 19th century Standard Oil empire.
There are an awful lot of people who are getting increasingly annoyed with Exxon, said economist Neva Rockefeller Goodwin, a great-granddaughter of the companys founder.
PESKY SHAREHOLDERS
Their [Exxons] attitude is these pesky shareholders, they act as if they own the company, she said.
In an unusually public step for the usually reticent philanthropic dynasty, the Rockefellers have set out four shareholder resolutions calling for an independent chairman; a taskforce to study global warming; a reduction in Exxons greenhouse gas emissions; and a renewable energy policy. They cite support from 66 of John D Rockefellers 78 direct descendants aged 21 or over.
A significant number of institutional investors support their call for Exxons chief executive Rex Tillerson to hand the role of chairman to an outsider a similar motion for such a change won 40 percent of investors votes at last years annual meeting.
Rockefeller Goodwin said her family almost defines the long-term investor as the oldest continuous shareholder in Exxon. She spoke of serious disjunctures between Exxons short-term actions and the long-term health both of this company and of the worlds economy.
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
Her cousin Peter ONeill said: If the next 20 years of the energy business were going to be just about oil and gas, we wouldnt be holding this press conference.
While other oil companies such as BP, Shell and Chevron have sought to paint themselves as green, ExxonMobil has adopted a hardline position.
The Texas-based firm has US$25 billion of capital investment planned in exploration and research of carbon-based fuels. Its main environmental commitment is a relatively modest US$100 million to fund a Stanford University center researching technical solutions to global warming.
We think a few of those billions should go towards looking to the future and to the kind of energy this world might need, Rockefeller Goodwin said.
She said that family members had been denied access to Exxons non-executive board members and that letters to independent directors had yielded stock responses drafted by company executives. Exxons top management, she said, consisted of veteran employees steeped in the firms culture.
CORPORATE CULTURE
Exxon has a very strong corporate culture strong in good ways and not so good ways, Rockefeller Goodwin said. It includes an inability to listen to outsiders and an assumption that they know all the answers.
Until recently, Exxon gave large donations to scientific institutes that disputed climate change. The company is reluctant to pump funds into environmental power forms such as wind and solar energy, arguing that such projects will not be viable until a step change in technology happens.
We are focusing our support on research, both internally and externally, to achieve the large technological step changes that are needed, a company spokesman said.
He denied any reluctance to enter into talks.
We have met members of the Rockefeller family on many occasions over a number of years, he said.
The shareholder proposals are not binding and Exxon merely says that any successful resolutions will be considered by its board. In spite of criticism over its strategy, Exxons shares have surged by 20 percent in the last year and the firm commands a market value of US$497 billion.
The Rockefellers wont say how many shares they hold. Company figures show the 12 family members proposing resolutions have 332,174 shares, worth US$31 million but amounting to only 0.006 percent of the company.
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