Legal & General challenges BP leadership over abandoned green targets
"Legal & General opposes BP Chair’s re-election over net zero u-turn", 14 April 2025
"Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), one of the UK’s most influential institutional investors, has declared it will vote against the re-election of BP’s chairman Helge Lund, citing concerns over the oil major’s retreat from its climate commitments.
The move signals growing shareholder unrest ahead of BP’s annual general meeting, as the FTSE 100-listed energy firm faces criticism for abandoning its 2020 pledge to cut fossil fuel production by 40% and scale up low-carbon investments tenfold by 2030. The revised strategy, unveiled at a recent capital markets day, commits instead to sustained growth in fossil fuel output—prompting allegations that BP had moved “too far and too fast” in its previous green transition...
“We are deeply concerned by the recent substantive revisions made to the company’s strategy, coupled with the decision not to allow a shareholder vote on the newly amended climate transition strategy at the 2025 AGM,” LGIM said, calling the shift “a financially material and systemic long-term risk to our clients’ portfolios.”..."