GLENCORE chairman, Tony Hayward, stood behind the Swiss mining and minerals trading group’s greenhouse gas emission targets, telling shareholders in a call they were “… more robust than the so-called targets that other people have out there”.
Reuters quoted Hayward as saying: “I don’t want to get into a debate about semantics between projections and targets. The projection we have made is a direct consequence of the capital allocation we are making”.
Shareholder advisory Pirc on Tuesday advised shareholders to vote Hayward and his fellow non-executive director, Peter Coates, off Glencore’s board. It argued the two had questionable track-records in implementing environmental standards at the corporate level. The concerns of Pirc and another advisory, Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR), are expected to be heard at Glencore’s annual general meeting on June 2.
Pressure on miners has mounted after Norway’s $1Tr wealth fund this month decided to sell its Glencore shares because it produces coal, said Reuters.
Activist charity ShareAction added its voice to Glencore’s critics, saying the firm should align its policy with the Paris climate goals by setting targets for Scope 3 emissions, which are generated when its products are used.
Glencore, which is the world’s largest exporter of seaborne coal, said that it should exceed plans to lower direct and indirect emissions from its operations, but it had not set Scope 3 targets. It instead provided a projection for those emissions to decline 30% by 2035 mainly because of falling coal output, said Reuters.
Pirc also said Hayward could not be considered independent after more than nine years at the helm of the Glencore board.
