Webinar: Activism & ESG Developments: Lessons from the Exxon / Engine No. 1 Proxy Contest

The Texas General Counsel Forum and Kirkland & Ellis LLP invite you to join a Virtual CLE Program on Wednesday, July 7th.

As was widely reported, Exxon recently lost a proxy contest to a new, ESG-focused activist hedge fund called Engine No. 1. This was the first major activist campaign centered around climate change and the energy transition. It is also part of a broader pattern of activists incorporating ESG principles into their activist programs as a way to curry favor and create wedge issues with ESG-focused index fund managers (like BlackRock and Vanguard) and to generate publicity to raise new ESG funds (e.g., Engine No. 1 is already out raising a new ESG-focused ETF).

In the current 2021 proxy season, we are also seeing record levels of support for ESG/climate focused shareholder proposals and much more significant levels of withhold votes against directors than we have ever seen. On the same day as the Exxon meeting, we also saw a Dutch court take the unprecedented step of ordering Shell to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 45% over the next 10 years. In this program, speakers from Kirkland's Activism Defense and ESG/Impact practices will discuss key issues and takeaways from the Exxon contest and will address how companies should address these fast moving ESG-focused developments.

Virtual Presentation Via Zoom
Wednesday, July 7, 2021
12:00pm–1:00pm CT