House Judiciary Committee Report Reveals ‘Climate Cartel Of Money Managers’ Colluded To Take Over Exxon Board: Retail Sentiment Slips

An interim report by the House Judiciary Committee released on Friday revealed that a cartel of the world's largest financial institutions and climate activists colluded to replace ExxonMobil Corporation's (XOM) board members after they refused to make a series of climate pledges.

The report titled "Sustainability Shakedown: How a Climate Cartel of Money Managers Colluded to Take Over the Board of America's Largest Energy Company" said that the climate cartel conspired to “refresh” the ExxonMobil board by removing and replacing its directors.

According to the key findings of the committee, the cartel branded ExxonMobil as a "focus company" on its climate blacklist. This signaled its investor members to launch organized shareholder "engagement" campaigns calling for the company to make climate commitments crafted to reduce energy production.

As ExxonMobil refused to comply, the cartel plotted to fire its board members, according to the report.

“In early 2020, after years of failed campaigns demanding that ExxonMobil reduce its production of fossil fuels, the climate cartel received millions of dollars from funders of Climate Action 100+ to launch a campaign to remove and replace the company's board members,” it stated.

The cartel reportedly installed a tiny hedge fund named Engine No. 1, which held 0.02% of ExxonMobil's shares, as the campaign's public face and colluded to secure the support of large financial institutions.

It “strong-armed BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street” to support the ExxonMobil board "refreshment" by coordinating the clients of BlackRock and State Street to threaten to pull multi-billion-dollar contracts if the investors refused to join the initiative.

In the end, the climate cartel secured “three climate activists” on the ExxonMobil board of directors, as per the report.

The report further clarifies that the pressure campaign against ExxonMobil is not an isolated incident and that the cartel remains resolved to continue its climate crusade.

“Through coordinated shareholder pressure campaigns at U.S. companies, the climate cartel seeks to use the trillions of dollars it manages to impose its agenda on the U.S. economy and drain it of affordable energy,” it said.

Following the release of the report, Exxon Mobil shares fell 0.78% on Friday afternoon.

Retail sentiment on Stocktwits inched lower into the ‘bullish’ territory (71/100) from ‘extremely bullish’ a day ago. The move was accompanied by high retail chatter.

XOM’s Sentiment Meter and Message Volume as of 12:40 p.m. ET on Dec. 13, 2024 | Source: Stocktwits

Notably, Exxon shares have gained over 8% since the beginning of the year.

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