BP's chairman Helge Lund took the brunt of a mini-revolt against the strategy pivot that the company announced in late February, as he saw support for his re-election slide at the firm's annual general meeting (AGM) in London today.
Lund — who already plans to step down from his role as BP's chair — saw the proportion of votes cast in favour of his re-election drop to 75.7pc, well down on the 95.89pc support he secured at last year's AGM.
Prior to this year's meeting, climate activist shareholder group Follow This had said that a vote against Lund was still required to signal concern about BP's governance in the absence of a "say-on-climate" vote following the company's recent strategy revamp which included dropping a 2030 limit on its oil and gas production and investing less on low-carbon assets.
Institutional investor Legal and General said last week that it would be voting against the re-election of Lund and that it is "deeply concerned" about the company's strategy change.
Commenting on today's vote, Follow This said BP's shareholders had "delivered an unprecedented high level of dissent" that signals deep investor concern about climate and governance. The vote "sends a clear signal" that Lund's successor "needs to be climate and transition competent" and show "resistance to short-term activists", the group added.
US activist investor Elliott Investment Management, which has a track record of forcing change at resources companies, has reportedly built a stake of around 5pc in BP.
Lund told shareholders at the meeting that BP had carried out "extensive engagement" concerning its strategy change, including sounding out 75pc of its institutional shareholder base, and that a majority did not want a "say-on-climate" vote. He also insisted that the recent strategy shift had been very carefully considered by BP's board and leadership team. These considerations involved a review of a broad range of scenarios including the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's and BP's own ambition to be a net-zero company by 2050.
Earlier in the meeting, BP chief executive Murray Auchincloss conceded that the company had been "optimistic for a fast [energy] transition but that optimism was misplaced", noting that despite many areas of strength within BP it went "too far too fast" so that "a fundamental reset was needed".
Asked by an investor about how BP plans to mitigate the effects of the tariffs on imports to the US imposed by President Donald Trump this month, Auchincloss said the company was "tracking the situation carefully". The steel and aluminium tariffs that have been introduced by Washington should not affect BP's onshore business in the US but there are some impacts on the speciality steels the firm brings into the US for its offshore facilities in the US Gulf of Mexico, he said.
Auchincloss received 97.3pc of shareholder votes in favour of his re-election, while finance chief Kate Thomson received 98.7pc support for her re-election. All other directors, apart from Lund, received votes greater than 92.9pc in favour of their re-election.
