Chevron’s reputation as a price gouger, gross polluter, environmental racist, and greedy corporate behemoth with an army of unscrupulous lawyers and greenwashing PR firms grows worse by the day. On Wednesday, May 25, Chevron held its annual shareholder meeting (AGM) virtually for the third consecutive year. The company’s management faced a barrage of shareholder proposals as well as opposition to the election of directors Ron Sugar and Michael Wirth, who failed to adequately respond to climate-related shareholder proposals. Chevron CEO Wirth, like the rest of Chevron management, simply buried his head in the sand and had nothing to say in response.
Chevron shareholders also received a message directly from the affected communities in Ecuador, who still suffer daily from the company’s admitted deliberate contamination. “For us, for these 11 years that Chevron has remained a fugitive of the Ecuadorian justice system for this environmental crime committed here, they have taken the lives of hundreds of people through cancer. To Chevron shareholders and management: I don’t know how many more people you want to continue dying from this crime you have committed… Those of you who have families: Know that this damage that you have caused has broken family bonds, leaving children orphaned… Enough. This must stop. Chevron has to pay up,” shared Donald Moncayo, President of the Union of Persons Affected by Texaco/Chevron (UDAPT), in a video recorded for the meeting.
Five out of the six shareholder resolutions concerning climate change and human rights failed to pass with majority support, but did receive backing from shareholders representing billions of dollars of assets under management. Still, Chevron’s CEO, board, and management behave as if business as usual is just fine and either dodged or completely ignored questions on the issues raised in these resolutions. In fact, Chevron disclosed that it received over 260 questions and comments prior to the meeting, but the CEO only responded to a select few cherry-picked by moderators.
One of the most critical shareholder resolutions calls for lowering the threshold for shareholders to call for a special meeting to 10 percent, introduced by actor and activist Lucy Lawless, who visited Ecuador last year. The resolution declared Chevron’s leadership has not only mismanaged the company’s Ecuador liability ($9.5 billion) but has ignored the over $50.5 billion owed to communities and governments around the world for environmental and human rights crimes, as well as tax evasion and other violations. Months ago, U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib questioned Chevron CEO Mike Wirth about this before the House Oversight Committee and sent a message of her own to Chevron management demanding it respond to follow up questions. In a video message for Anti-Chevron Day, Representative Tlaib pressed further: “Chevron shareholders and Chevron victims deserve answers today. So I’ll ask him again, when are you going to write the check, Mike?”
A resolution concerning tracking methane emissions received majority support, and another proposal calling for a racial equity audit received 48% of the vote – which is almost unheard of for something management opposes. Jillianne Lyon of Investor Advocates for Social Justice charged that Chevron “exacerbates racial inequities via its contributions to climate change, pollutants and leaks, and public policy advocacy, including lobbying and funding of police foundations tied to police brutality, that is misaligned with racial equity and upholding civil rights.”
For the first time in over a decade, Chevron had absolutely nothing to say during its annual meeting about its vilification of human rights lawyer Steven Donziger. Chevron’s attacks on him have drawn international outrage, and many argue its strategy has backfired now that many international leaders, government officials, and human rights and environmental leaders are once again calling for justice and a cleanup in Ecuador.
Ahead of Chevron’s AGM, we also participated in the ninth annual Global Anti-Chevron Day on May 21, 2022. Amazon Watch joined a powerful rally outside Chevron’s notoriously dangerous Richmond, CA refinery to join in solidarity with our Richmond neighbors. Steven Donziger traveled to Richmond to join protesters, and the event, which included many from the Burmese-American community, included messages of solidarity from affected communities in Ecuador, Nigeria, and Australia. Once again, communities around the world united to send a message to Chevron’s management only days before its shareholder meeting: Clean up your act, and stop profiting off the destruction of communities and the environment.
For the moment, Chevron management was able to ignore shareholder and community outrage at its scripted, online AGM. But Chevron CEO Wirth will remain in the hot seat, as the U.S. House Oversight Committee will soon call on him for additional questioning. Wirth will not be able to continue to ignore the multitude of debts Chevron owes for its lengthy pattern of environmental destruction and violating human rights.
