The Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR) is opposing the election of all directors at an upcoming annual general meeting of Australian oil and gas company Woodside Energy, citing underperformance and climate risks.
Members’ statements say Woodside’s entire board shares collective responsibility for the company’s failings, which include Woodside’s chronically poor shareholder returns and its ongoing failure to manage climate risk.
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Governance concerns outlined in the statements include:
- Failure to respond to significant underperformance: Woodside has significantly and chronically underperformed relative to the local market and the global oil and gas sector; 168% lower total shareholder returns than the ASX100 and 83% lower than the MSCI World Energy over 15 years. Despite this, Woodside persists with the same high-cost, high-carbon, low-value strategy that contributed to its financial underperformance.
- Failure to materially respond to escalating investor feedback on management of climate risk. In 2024, 58% of shareholders voted against Woodside’s Climate Transition Action Plan; in 2021, it was 49%. The board’s response has largely been to restate the existing strategy and hold more engagements with investors—without substantively addressing investors’ climate concerns.
Woodside Energy is reportedly reviewing the call for shareholders to vote against the re-election Ann Pickard, Ben Wyatt, Tony O’Neill, and Alex Hillman.
ACCR lead analyst Alex Hillman said, “The board continues to back Woodside’s strategy—which means it is not grappling with the magnitude of the company’s underperformance or investor feedback on management of climate risk. Investors should now be asking if their directors are acting in the best interests of the company.
“Woodside has significantly and chronically underperformed its peers, the global equities market and the local equities market. Yet the company is persisting with the high-cost, high-risk, fossil fuel growth strategy that has contributed to its significant underperformance.
“This is not a temporary blip: Woodside eroded a massive 21% TSR in 2024 and only generated 0.7% TSR per year over 15 years. The underperformance runs deep yet the Board has not acknowledged the issue,” Hillman said.
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“Last year’s 58% vote against Woodside’s Climate Transition Action Plan is the world’s only majority vote against a company’s climate plan. This saw Woodside break its own global record for the worst climate vote of any company and follows Woodside’s worst director vote in 2023 and the worst vote against a Woodside Chair in 2024.
“It is astounding that Woodside has made no material change to its strategy in response to these votes. This raises serious questions about governance.”
