But the outspoken superannuation fund, which has criticised the company for not doing enough on emissions reduction, will vote against its climate strategy.
Already a subscriber?Woodside Energy’s most vocal superannuation fund investor will vote to re-elect the oil and gas giant’s chairman, Richard Goyder, despite a push from environmental activists to have the businessman turfed from the board.
But Ms Blakey, in an interview on Thursday, said that HESTA’s “engagement” with Woodside had “really been very constructive”.“It’s been specifically around governance and really adding skills to the board to help accelerate the strategic, technological and, I would say, cultural change needed for the energy transition,” she said.
HESTA on Thursday voted against Santos chairman Keith Spence at the smaller gas group’s annual meeting despite proxy advisory groups backing his re-election. It voted in favour of other directors, however. Woodside investors have previously delivered large protest votes against the re-election of directors. Last year, consternation about the company’s climate strategy was concentrated on the vote for former resources minister Ian Macfarlane’s re-election, which attracted 35 per cent opposition.
There has been growing pessimism about the ability for energy groups to meet existing climate targets. Shell last month dropped its 2035 target for emissions reduction and, despite retaining its commitment to net zero emissions by 2050. That was because the energy giant intends to expand the sale of liquified natural gas and be more selective about the type of lower-carbon product it is selling.
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