President's Letters

Nathan Cummings Foundation Statement on Occidental Petroleum

Today, a proposal led by the Nathan Cummings Foundation and Wespath asking Occidental Petroleum to conduct an assessment of the long-term impacts of climate change on its business went to a vote for a second time and passed with strong support from investors. This historic vote marks the first time that a climate risk proposal passed at a major U.S. oil and gas company. The proposal is also the first climate change proposal ever supported by BlackRock. Below, a statement from Nathan Cummings Foundation Director of Corporate and Political Accountability, Laura S. Campos:

“Today’s historic vote puts the oil and gas industry on notice – the climate is changing and so are investor expectations of how companies should respond. Occidental Petroleum’s Board must respond to shareholders’ show of support for increased information on the company’s prospects in a carbon-constrained world. We look forward to the company’s response and will work with our partner, Wespath Investment Management, to make sure this issue stays on their radar screen.”

Located in New York City, the Nathan Cummings Foundation is a national grantmaking organization that has made $425 million in grants over the past 25 years. Rooted in the Jewish tradition of social justice, the foundation focuses on finding solutions to the two biggest problems of our time – the climate crisis and growing inequality. The foundation has a long history of using its power as an investor to influence companies around environmental and social issues, and recently announced a decision to increase its giving in 2017 and 2018 and new progress around impact investing.