EOG Resources has committed to reduce its methane emission footprint, joining a growing group of energy companies yielding to shareholder pressure for more environmentally responsible operations, Axios reports, citing a notice from shareholder Trillium Asset Management.
The investment company proposed two shareholder resolutions aimed at forcing EOG Resources to commit to doing more to improve its emissions record. Last year’s resolution was rejected after EOG approached the Securities and Exchange Commission and received an exemption from a vote on the proposed resolution.
Yet Trillium persevered, and its second attempt to push the company worked, with EOG committing to “adopt quantitative targets for reducing methane emissions, and issue a report (at reasonable cost, in a reasonable time, and omitting proprietary information) discussing its plans and progress towards achieving these targets,” the investment firm’s statement read.
The Axios report quoted a Trillium executive as saying, “Engaging EOG is a slow and incremental process. Year after year we are able to get them to take additional steps. So over the course of 2019 and 2020, we will be continuing to engage and getting that specificity into the targets.”
In Europe, BP and Shell have become the target of such resolutions. The resolutions call for an overall reduction in the two companies’ carbon footprints, and the firm stated it was considering similar proposals for Exxon and Chevron as well.