SHAREHOLDERS in Glencore have been urged to vote against the re-election of the group’s chairman, Tony Hayward, owing to his track-record on environmental matters, said the Financial Times citing the actions of Pirc, a shareholder advisory.
Hayward, was CEO of oil major BP at the time of the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico 10 years ago in which 11 employees were killed. It was the largest oil spill in history: by the time the subsequent leak was contained, some 4.9 million barrels of oil had spilled into the sea, according to a government-commissioned panel of scientists.
Hayward joined Glencore’s board as a non-executive director in 2011 and was appointed chairman in 2013. He was re-elected last year with 93.29% of shareholder votes.
Pirc also advised shareholders to vote Peter Coates off the board. Coates has overseen Glencore’s health, safety, environment and community committee at a time when mining related fatalities had increased at the company, said the Financial Times.
Coates has also been criticised for “… questionable views on climate change”, according to the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR), a shareholder advocacy organisation, which has also called for Coates to be removed at the annual general meeting (AGM). The AGM, which will be ‘virtual’, is scheduled for June 2.
Despite the reproach from Pirc and the ACCR, Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis, the world’s largest proxy advisers, called on Glencore investors to support all resolutions at the AGM, said the newspaper.
The criticism of Glencore’s action on climate change comes just weeks after more than a third of investors in Rio Tinto backed a shareholder resolution that would require the miner to set binding emissions targets, the Financial Times said.
