y at the company’s annual general meeting in Perth on Wednesday. Shareholders delivered a non-binding 58 per cent vote against the gas giant’s climate action plan, which opponents say won’t meet global Paris Agreement targets for reducing carbon emissions. But they voted by a more-than-solid 84 per cent to re-elect chairman Richard Goyder who, along with chief executive Meg O’Neill, shows few signs of radically changing Woodside’s gas development plans.
And, notwithstanding the objections of some Canadian and Australian pension funds, Resources Minister Madeleine King strongly supports Woodside’s Scarborough LNG project – and the Santos Barossa LNG project – as critical to securing Asia’s energy security amid rising geopolitical challenges.
Woodside’s biggest new projects are oil and gas in Mexico and Senegal. If investors want something else they may have to settle for a less than 10 per cent return, which the industry super funds may not relish. CEO Ms O’Neill says the company refuses to make non-credible greenwashing promises or to burn capital on projects that are not ready.