Exxon investor scores historic climate win with 2 board seats

An investor with a tiny stake in ExxonMobil scored a historic climate victory when it won two seats on the oil giant’s board.

A first-time activist investor with a tiny stake in Exxon Mobil Corp. scored a historic win in its proxy fight with the oil giant, signaling the growing importance of climate change to investors. Engine No. 1 – the little-known firm that vaulted into the spotlight in December when it began pressing Exxon to come up with a better plan to fight global warming – won two seats on the company’s board at Wednesday’s annual shareholders meeting, according to a preliminary tally. The result is an embarrassment for Exxon, unprecedented in the rarefied world of Big Oil, and a sign that institutional investors are increasingly willing to force corporate America to tackle climate change. That Engine No. 1, with just a 0.02% stake and no history of activism in oil and gas, could win even a partial victory against a titan like Exxon, the Western world’s biggest crude producer, shows how seriously environmental concerns are now being taken in the boardrooms of the country’s largest companies.