Filers of 5 Resolutions on Climate, Separation of CEO/Chair Comment on Outcome

DALLAS, May 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Shareholder advocates received substantial support today on a range of "hot button" items on the proxy at the Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) annual meeting. Votes were cast on five key resolutions focused on climate change issues and the separation of the ExxonMobil CEO and chair of the board.

The support levels ensure that shareholders got the attention of management and can return next year to reintroduce the issues, if the company has not yet addressed them.

The four climate-related resolutions requested that the board develop a comprehensive greenhouse gas emission reduction target (item #15 on proxy/lead proponent - Sisters of St. Dominic of Caldwell); create a task force to investigate the consequences of climate change on business models in emerging markets (item #17/lead proponent -- Neva Rockefeller Goodwin); report on how it will become an industry leader in developing technologies to create energy independence in the U.S. (item #18/lead proponent -- Michael Crosby); and adopt a policy to expand renewable energy R&D and sourcing (item #19/lead proponent -- Stephen Viederman).

Proxy item #5 - calling for an independent chairman at ExxonMobil - was filed by Robert A.G. Monks, a noted shareholder advocate, founder of ISS and co-founder of The Corporate Library. Commenting on the vote, Monks said: "This is the day when ownership responsibility for the impact of the Exxon Mobil Corporation was redefined. Exxon's founding family provided a shining example of leadership and the ExxonMobil board is urged to listen."

Proxy item #15 filer Sister Patricia Daly, executive director of the Tri-State Coalition for Responsible Investment (representing Catholic institutional investors in New York state, Connecticut and New Jersey), said: "In spite of record-breaking profits, shareowners need to see our Company's business plan to secure future viability in a carbon-constrained economy. Reducing emissions may be this century's moral, technological and financial challenge."

Proxy item #17 filer Neva Rockefeller Goodwin said: "In writing resolution #17, I focused on a set of projections that are frequently repeated by Exxon spokesmen - projections that: by 2030 world energy demand will increase by about 40 percent; that growth in developing countries will drive most of this increase; and that at least 80 percent of the energy demand in 2030 will be met by fossil fuels. These projections, and their implications about Exxon's future directions, depend on two critical -- but untested -- assumptions: first, that developing countries will indeed enjoy strong economic growth during the coming decades - an assumption that I certainly hope will turn out to be true; and second, that global consumption of oil and gas will substantially increase. The second assumption is significantly flawed: it ignores both the growing momentum for developing alternative forms of energy and the many reasons for reducing the use of fossil fuels now - reasons that include political mandates, rapidly rising costs, and all of the possible fall-out from the climate and weather events that are already occurring."

Proxy item #18 filer Michael Crosby, a priest in the Province of St. Joseph of the Capuchin Order in Milwaukee, Wisconsin said: "We are very pleasantly surprised that a first year resolution like ours has garnered so many votes. We had the support of the biggest pension funds in California and New York. This vote bodes well for the planet."

Proxy item #19 filer Stephen Viederman, former president of the Noyes Foundation, said: "ExxonMobil is hiding behind alternative energy research, which is different from renewable energy research, and they do know the difference. If they don't adapt to the new circumstances brought about by the growing demand for regulation, the company will remain an increasingly endangered dinosaur."

SOURCE Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, NYC