bp shareholders resoundingly defeated two resolutions proposed by the energy giant at its annual general meeting (AGM) on Thursday, including resolutions that would have enabled the company to eliminate some climate-related disclosures, and to hold virtual AGMs going forward.
Both resolutions were voted against by more than half of shareholders, falling well below the 75% threshold required to pass. Notably, 18% of shareholders also voted against the election of bp’s new Chair Albert Manifold.
The shareholder action follows a campaign by climate activist group Follow This and several institutional investors calling on shareholders to vote against the resolutions after bp had refused to include a resolution filed by the group requesting that the company disclose a strategy for creating shareholder value under scenarios of declining oil and gas demand.
Follow This has filed a similar resolution at Shell, which the company has included in its AGM materials, but recommended that shareholders vote against it at the company’s upcoming AGM on May 19.
Following the AGM, Mark van Baal, CEO of Follow This, said:
“Today, shareholders reminded BP’s board who it works for. Not for itself, but for them. Many shareholders agreed with us: BP’s governance is broken.”
Among the defeated resolutions was one that would have revoked prior resolutions requiring bp to provide certain climate disclosures, including a 2015 resolution mandating reporting on the company’s operational emissions management, portfolio resilience to climate transition scenarios, low-carbon R&D and investment strategies, KPIs and incentives, and public policy positions, and a 2019 resolution requiring the company to describe its strategy to be consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement, covering areas including capex, metrics and targets, investments in oil and gas and other energy sources, emissions reduction targets, product carbon intensity, and linkages of targets with executive remuneration.
In the AGM materials, bp board said that the prior resolutions “have been largely superseded by significant developments in mandatory disclosure frameworks,” noting that they predated the establishment of new mandatory climate reporting requirements, as well as the company’s own net zero goals.
bp initially set a goal to become a net zero company in 2020, with plans to reduce oil and gas production over time while increasing investments in low carbon energy sources. In February 2025, however, the company unveiled a new strategy, reallocating capital to increase oil and gas investment and reducing low carbon energy to less than 5% of the company’s capex allocation.
At the AGM, Manifold said:
“While we appear to have overwhelming support for the direction of travel for the company, it seems very clear that the two special resolutions – one relating to our articles and one relating to historic resolutions – have not reached a simple majority. It was and is the board’s view that it is good governance to bring these types of issues to a meeting like today – to debate and discuss them.”
