BP shareholders should vote against its new chair over his decision to exclude a climate resolution from the company’s next annual meeting, a major proxy adviser has recommended.
Glass Lewis has advised investors to vote against Albert Manifold, who has been in his post for just six months.
The institution, which advises some of the world’s biggest investors, said its recommendation was based on BP’s decision to exclude a proposal to share its longer-term strategy under scenarios of declining oil and gas demand.
The resolution was tabled by the climate activist shareholder group Follow This, and would have prompted the company and its shareholders to discuss the issue at BP’s annual general meeting on 23 April.
BP, one of the biggest oil companies in the world, is in the process of pivoting its focus back to oil and gas after an ill-received foray into renewables.
Manifold, who previously ran the building material company CRH, joined in October with a promise to help BP “reach its full potential”. This month Meg O’Neill, a former executive at the US oil company ExxonMobil, became the chief executive – BP’s fourth boss since 2023 and the first woman to fill the role.
Albert Manifold joined BP in October with a promise to help it ‘reach its full potential’. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA
Glass Lewis said the board’s decision to exclude the resolution from its AGM “further raises questions about transparency, shareholder communication and responsiveness to shareholder concerns”, in a note to investors first reported by Reuters.
Manifold said on BP’s website that the board had concluded the proposal by Follow This was not valid and would be ineffective if it were to pass at the AGM.
A spokesperson said BP was focused on building a simpler company after investor engagement. They said: “That’s why we are making these recommendations, to provide transparent, standardised disclosures that support clear comparisons across companies.”
Another advisory firm, ISS, has recommended investors vote against the BP board’s request to retire two proposals on how it reported its climate impact.
BP argued that the proposals, made in 2015 and 2019, were no longer relevant because of a more standardised reporting framework.
Glass Lewis has also recommended shareholders vote against BP’s request to scrap the climate reporting resolutions, Reuters reported.
