BP shareholders reject management bid to cut climate impact reporting

British energy major BP PLC faced a shareholder backlash at its annual meeting Thursday as investors rejected resolutions that would have reduced its climate reporting requirements.

The vote is a blow to BP’s new management at a time when the company is pivoting back to its more profitable oil and gas business, and slashing its clean energy investments.

BP Chair Albert Manifold said investors voted against resolutions that would have permitted online-only general meetings and scrapped two of the company’s climate disclosure obligations.

Management argued that the company-specific climate requirements had been ‘largely superseded’ by legal changes that require mandatory climate disclosures. 

But the resolutions received less than 50% of the vote, far from the 75% needed to pass.

The shareholders’ meeting came a week after BP reported an 86% plunge in 2025 net profit, though it said oil trading operations had been ‘exceptional’ in the first quarter amid Middle East-driven market volatility.

The company’s performance has largely lagged behind its rivals in recent years, leading to a strategy and leadership shake-up.

Energy industry veteran Meg O’Neill became chief executive this month, replacing Murray Auchincloss. 

Some of the investor discontent was directed at Manifold, the chairman, on Thursday, when 82% of shareholders voted in favour of his election – below the near-unanimous support typically received by directors.

Anger had also been brewing after the company refused to put to a vote a resolution from the activist shareholder group Follow This, which called on BP to present a strategy to preserve shareholder value as oil and gas demand declines.

‘Today, shareholders reminded BP’s board who it works for. Not for itself, but for them,’ said Mark van Baal, chief executive of Follow This.

Shares in BP closed down 0.4% at 570.30 pence in London on Thursday.

source: AFP

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