Exxon Mobil shareholders defeat pro environment resolutions

29 May 2008

For the seventh year in a row the proposal to split the roles of the chief executive and chairman of ExxonMobil, were defeated by a 60-per cent shareholder majority of the world's largest publicly traded oil firm  at the company's annual meeting in Dallas.

Led by descendants of founder John D Rockefeller, who atre currently the single largest shareholder in the oil giant, 39.5 per cent of Exxon's investors supported the call for the appointment of an independent chairman who would initiate the company on a path of action over global warming.

Rockefeller founded The Standard Oil Company, the original forerunner to Exxon Mobil, in 1870.

Rex Tillerson, who has been chairman and CEO since 2006, has led the the oil major to profits of $91 billion in the last two-and-a-quarter years and while he raised its investments in oil and gas projects, his critics ssay he has taken no worthwhile investment initiative on renewable energy.

In 2007 Exxon Mobil, which drills more oil than every OPEC member barring Saudi Arabia and Iran, surpassed its own previous year's top rank figures for record earnings among US corporations, posting $40.6 billion profit. 

Motions to set pollution-reduction target for Exxon Mobil refineries were also defeated, by shareholders who praised the chairman for having made money for the company's shareholders; Exxon's stock value has risen 60 per cent  under Tlllerson's charge, thrice the 22 per cent rise in the value of its main rival, Royal Dutch Shell.