Climate revolt looms for Woodside on gas emissions goals

Australia's largest oil and gas producer, Woodside, is headed for a clash with investors over demands to slash greenhouse gas emissions as influential shareholder advisors recommend defying the board and backing calls for bolder climate action. Motions pushing for Woodside to commit to hard targets to curb direct emissions and emissions created by the end-users of its products – known as "Scope 3" emissions – are likely to attract considerable support at an investor meeting on Thursday after key proxy advisory firms urged shareholders to vote against the board.

Woodside, which has an ambition for "net zero" emissions for its own operations by 2050, has urged shareholders to vote down the resolutions, saying it was supportive of the Paris climate accord's goals to limit global warming well below 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels and its gas exports were helping to displace higher-emissions fuel sources such as coal-fired power.

Woodside shareholder Ethical Partners, which supports the climate resolutions, said disclosure was important and the introduction of Scope 3 goals across the resources sector was an inevitability. "Scope 3 is inevitable and important," Ethical Partners investment director Nathan Parkin told The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. "It won't be solved overnight, but we think it should be disclosed."

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