5.25.2005 ET

(CSRwire) BOSTON, MA - Shareholders at the ExxonMobil Corp. gave record high voting support today to a shareholder resolution seeking greater analysis and disclosure from the company about the financial impacts posed by global climate change.

Meeting at today's corporate annual meeting in Dallas, 28.3 percent of Exxon Mobil's shareholders supported a resolution requesting that the company's board of directors undertake a comprehensive review on how it will meet the greenhouse gas reductions targets in countries participating in the Kyoto Protocol. The 28.3 percent support represents 1.5 billion shares with a market value of about $83.8 billion.

The measure was backed by many of the company's largest shareholders, including the CalPERS and CalSTRS public pension funds in California, as well as Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), a key investor advisor on proxy voting issues. The highest previous vote on a climate change resolution with ExxonMobil was 22.2 percent at the company's 2003 annual meeting.

"As a CalPERS and CalSTRS trustee, I expect a company like Exxon, in which we own 56 million shares, to listen to the clear market signals and address the real risks of climate change," said California State Controller Steve Westly.

"Today's vote sends a loud and clear message that shareholders want and deserve more action from ExxonMobil on the climate change issue, which will have significant long-term financial ramifications for the company and its investors," said Mindy S. Lubber, president of Ceres, a coalition of investors and environmental groups that has been coordinating shareholder filings with oil and gas companies.

"Given how well the company is doing financially right now, we're very pleased that so many institutional investors were unwilling to accept management's recommendation and want more action from the company on the business impacts from the Kyoto Protocol," said Michael Crosby, a Catholic priest whose Capuchin order in Milwaukee filed the Kyoto resolution.

Today's vote comes after many other oil and gas companies have agreed in recent months to a wide range of actions to reduce their financial exposure and improve their competitive positioning on the climate change issue. Anadarko Petroleum, Apache, ChevronTexaco and several other leading U.S. oil and gas companies have agreed to such steps as: measuring and disclosing greenhouse gas emissions and setting reduction targets; increasing investments in low- and no-carbon energy technologies, integrating climate risk and carbon costs into capital allocation decision making; and assigning boards direct responsibility to oversee climate change corporate strategies.

The actions come in the wake of record-high voting support last year for shareholder resolutions seeking more climate risk disclosure from oil and gas companies. The voting support ranged from 27 percent at Marathon to as high as 37 percent at Apache.

"Just as last year's high votes spurred Marathon, Apache and other companies to take action, we hope today's vote will spur ExxonMobil to be more responsive to this issue," Lubber said.

Two other climate change resolutions were voted on at today's meeting. A resolution requesting that the company explain the scientific basis for its ongoing denial about human activities contributing to global warming received 10.3 percent of the vote. A resolution calling for more energy and oil industry expertise among independent members of the board of directors received 4.1 percent support.

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