Climate tipping point? ExxonMobil's shareholder revolt and the end of the line for fossil fuels

Few days spell out the future as clearly as this Wednesday did in terms of energy and climate action. The dikes of denial behind which Big Carbon has sheltered their deadly oil, coal and fossil gas were breached not once or twice but three times, and are now  irreversibly crumbling . 

Chevron shareholders rebuked the oil company's refusal to commit to reduce climate emissions from both its production and sale of oil and gas. A  Dutch court told Shell , which had already made such a commitment, but an inadequate one —  pledging a 20% reduction by 2030 — that in fact its emissions impact had to be cut by 45% in that same nine-year span, and placed in compliance with the 1.5-degree celsius warming limit called for by the Paris agreement.  

In the biggest headline-grabber  of all, ExxonMobil shareholders rejected at least two and perhaps three of the company's board candidates. Instead they elected anti-management candidates offered by a tiny hedge fund called Engine Company #1, which attacked Exxon's climate denial as a business folly that is leading the company towards bankruptcy. (Full disclosure: The Engine Company #1 candidate whose candidacy is too close to call, Andy Karsner, is a friend of mine.)  One key to the shocking defeat of Exxon's board slate was the decision by its second-largest investor, BlackRock, to vote against three of the four challenged Exxon board members. 

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