Shareholder proposed resolution at AGL Energy’s 2015 AGM

AGL Energy’s 2015 AGM on Thursday 30 September 2015 features a shareholder-proposed resolution relating to climate change. AGL Energy’s greenhouse gas policy announced in April 2015 (VIEW LINK) seems to already tackle this issue. That’s what the company is arguing in recommending shareholders vote against the resolution to amend the company’s constitution. What’s missing from the April 2015 statement and this year’s annual report are specific targets for meeting the 2° Global Warming Goal. The April 2015 revision of the company’s GHG Policy, with nine commitments, does not have any quantitative targets for emissions or emissions intensity reductions and does not mention the 2012 target of investment in new generation capacity to have a combined intensity lower than 0.7 tCOe/MHw. The group of shareholders moving this resolution argues that's not good enough. They also argue there’s an inconsistency between financial accounting of carbon emissions, physical reality and political intent – what is described as the unburnable carbon bubble (VIEW LINK) – They claim one impact will be via write-downs of generating assets and reserves.