Shareholders in Royal Dutch Shell PLC (LON:RDSA) (LON:RDSB) have strongly backed the oil giant on its bosses pay package and rejected a climate change resolution at today’s annual general meeting in The Hague.
The results of voting at the AGM showed that around 93% of Shell shareholders approved both the directors' 2016 renumeration report and its future renumeration policy.
The City had been keenly awaiting the vote on Shell chief executive Ben Van Beurden’s multi-million euro salary, especially after a climb-down last month by FTSE 100-listed peer BP PLC (LON:BP.) over his counter-part, Bob Dudley’s pay package.
READ: BP slashes CEO Bob Dudley’s pay package
The Shell boss has seen his pay jump to €8.6mln (£7.4mln) for last year, up by €3m from 2015, driven by a €4mln boost to long-term incentives.
In April, BP cut back its executive pay policy to head off a revolt at its AGM last week after an embarrassing revolt against Bob Dudley’s pay in 2016.
Van Beurden’s total pay could reach €16.88mln
Shell’s long-term incentives mean that, in theory Van Beurden’s total pay – including maximum bonus wins –could reach €16.88mln, while BP’s board capped Dudley’s highest possible payout at $15.7m.
Shell’s board was also spared an investor revolt last year after shareholders voted 85.83% in favour of the 2015 payout.
But this time out, investment group Pensions & Investment Research Consultants (Pirc), which represents around 1% of shareholders, had urged investors to reject both the directors’ pay last year and Shell’s future remuneration policy.
Another shareholder advisory group, ISS did not call on investors to vote against the board but said Shell’s pay policy is “not without concerns for shareholders”.
Climate change proposal rejected
Meanwhile, nearly 94% of the Anglo-Dutch firm’s shareholders also voted against a proposal tabled by an environmental activist group demanding the oil major sets and publishes annual targets to reduce carbon emissions.
According to Reuters, Van Beurden's speech at Tuesday's AGM began with a 30 minute presentation on Shell's initiatives to help lower carbon emissions.
The oil giant’s chief executive called the climate change resolution “an unreasonable ask”.
Van Beurden, however, promised to engage further with investors on how the oil company can become more transparent about its plans to tackle climate change.