House committee report shows how cartel colluded to replace Exxon board members

The House Judiciary Committee released an interim report titled, “Sustainability Shakedown: How a Climate Cartel of Money Managers Colluded to Take Over the Board of America’s Largest Energy Company.” The interim report reveals how a cartel of the world’s largest financial institutions and climate activists colluded through climate alliances and initiatives to replace the ExxonMobil’s (XOM) board members after they refused to make a series of climate pledges. Key findings from the Committee’s investigation into the climate cartel’s crusade against ExxonMobil include: The climate cartel branded ExxonMobil as a “focus company” on its climate blacklist, which signaled its investor members to launch organized shareholder “engagement” campaigns that call for the company to make climate commitments crafted to reduce energy production. When ExxonMobil refused to comply, the cartel plotted to fire its board members. In early 2020, after years of failed campaigns demanding that ExxonMobil reduce its production of fossil fuels, the climate cartel received millions of dollars from funders of Climate Action 100+ to launch a campaign to remove and replace the company’s board members. The Cartel installed Engine No. 1, a tiny hedge fund with 0.02% of ExxonMobil’s shares, as the campaign’s public face and colluded to secure the support of large financial institutions. The Cartel strong-armed BlackRock (BLK), Vanguard, and State Street (STT) to support the ExxonMobil board “refreshment” by coordinating clients of BlackRock and State Street to threaten to pull multi-billion-dollar contracts if the investors refused to join the initiative. After successfully installing three new directors on ExxonMobil’s board, the cartel plans to leverage the “Exxon effect” to win more ESG climate pledges at other U.S. companies. “Unfortunately, the pressure campaign against ExxonMobil is not an isolated incident. The climate cartel remains resolved to continue its climate crusade, pressuring U.S. companies to stop producing the affordable energy Americans need. Through coordinated shareholder pressure campaigns at U.S. companies, the climate cartel seeks to use the trillions of dollars it manages to impose its agenda on the U.S. economy and drain it of affordable energy.”