Power and gas giant AGL has been dealt a stunning defeat after shareholders elected all four board candidates nominated by activist investor Mike Cannon-Brookes.
AGL, the nation’s largest greenhouse gas emitter, has been dealt another stunning defeat after its shareholders elected all four board candidates nominated by activist investor Mike Cannon-Brookes to bolster the power giant’s response to climate change and clean energy opportunities.
AGL’s meeting follows months of intensifying pressure from shareholders over AGL’s response to climate change, the future of its coal-fired power stations and the make-up of its board of directors. Cannon-Brookes, the co-founder of software company Atlassian and one of the nation’s richest people, attempted to buy AGL for $8 billion this year through a consortium with Canadian asset manager Brookfield. When that deal fell apart, he ran a successful shareholder campaign to prevent AGL’s planned demerger and has pressured the company to fast-track the closure of its coal-fired power stations.
“History has been made today,” said Brynn O’Brien of the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility, a shareholder activism group. “Today’s events have demonstrated that the direction of high-emitting companies can change and that energy transition is an immense opportunity that must be harnessed to enhance shareholder value and mitigate climate risk,” said O’Brien, who called on the boards of other big Australian polluters to take note.
It also said it would spend $20 billion to add up to 12 gigawatts of new renewable energy and back-up “firming” assets by 2036, and had received strong support from shareholders for its revised strategy.
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