Pope Francis will address executives from a group of major oil company as well as one of the biggest global asset managers at a climate conference on June 9, according to news reports.
Citing people familiar with the event and other sources, Axios and Reuters reported that the Vatican will host a climate conference organized by the University of Notre Dame on June 8-9 that is expected to be attended by the heads or senior executives of companies that include Exxon Mobil Corp., Eni SpA, BP PLC, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Equinor (previously known as Statoil ASA) and BlackRock Inc. Former U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz also is expected to attend.
Francis in 2015 issued an encyclical calling for immediate and rapid reductions in the use of fossil fuels to help stave off climate change.
"We know that technology based on the use of highly polluting fossil fuels — especially coal, but also oil and, to a lesser degree, gas — needs to be progressively replaced without delay," Francis, the first pope from the Southern Hemisphere, wrote in the letter to "every person living on this planet."
Publicly traded energy companies are coming under increasing pressure from investors to ensure they are maneuvering to remain competitive as cultural expectations for the companies evolve and markets transition to a lower-carbon economy. In the current year's round of annual meetings, companies faced a number of shareholder resolutions to outline their plans for addressing those climate-transition-related risks.
For its part, BlackRock was among a few major asset managers that in 2017 stepped up its public statements and outreach and voting strategies aimed at encouraging companies to adopt socially responsible policies on gender diversity, climate change and other issues.
Even as the company executives are meeting with the pope and other world leaders on the topic, President Donald Trump has pledged to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement on climate change and his administration has taken steps to repeal many of the environmental regulations and initiatives launched during the Obama administration with the goal of meeting that accord's targets.
