General Electric: Climate Change Risk Reporting
WHEREAS: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change “Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5C” finds that to avoid catastrophic impacts associated with climate change, we must limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Specifically, it instructs that net emissions of carbon dioxide must fall by 45 percent by 2030 and reach "net zero" by 2050. Mitigating the devastating impacts of climate change on humanity, ecosystems, and the global economy requires every corporation to reduce climate emissions in line with these goals.
Investors are concerned that companies reduce climate risk to their own operations, but also to reduce their total greenhouse gas footprint to reduce climate-related harm to the economy and to investors’ portfolios. Sectors in which General Electric is active, including energy and transportation, have a particularly critical role to play in reducing emissions. Already, these sectors are undergoing a comprehensive and rapid transition in response to climate concerns and other market forces.
In spite of the need to address climate change and reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, General Electric continues to pursue development of new fossil fuel projects like coal power plants across the globe, including in Pakistan, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Kenya, and Mozambique. Such projects are often met with intense local opposition as well as international civil society backlash related to potential health and climate impacts, which jeopardize General Electric’s social license to operate. Coal power projects are increasingly losing their economic advantage in the face of clean energy opportunities and demands. Some analyses show that General Electric’s continued focus on carbon-intensive power projects has already resulted in falling earnings and have cost its investors hundreds of billions of dollars.
Given the urgency of addressing climate change and the associated risks it causes, General Electric should disclose whether it intends to adopt enterprise-wide policies to reduce its development of coal-based energy infrastructure that will contribute emissions for decades to come. While the Company has a 20 percent by 2020 greenhouse gas reduction target for its operations, this one-year goal is insufficient to demonstrate that its operations and greenhouse gas footprint are aligning with the Paris goals that extend to 2030 and 2050.
BE IT RESOLVED: Shareholders request that General Electric issue a report (at reasonable cost, omitting proprietary information) describing if, and how, it plans to modify its operations and investments to reduce its total carbon footprint at the rate and scope necessary to align with the Paris Agreement’s goals.
SUPPORTING STATEMENT: In the report shareholders seek information, among other issues addressed at board and management discretion, on the relative benefits and drawbacks of integrating the following actions:
Disclosing full Scope 1-3 emissions, including supply chain, operational, and product-related emissions;
Adopting overall greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for the company's full carbon footprint, inclusive of operational and project-related emissions;
Disclosing criteria for ensuring that project investments are consistent with the Paris Agreement
Resolution Details
Company: General Electric
Lead Filers:
As You Sow
Year: 2020
Filing Date:
November 2019
Initiative(s): Climate Change
Status: Agreement Reached; Resolution Withdrawn