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San Ramon, CA – Days after activists in Richmond, CA and Ecuador held a series of “Anti-Chevron” Month events, Chevron held its annual shareholder meeting in San Ramon. Once again taking advantage of changes put into place for COVID-19, shareholders could only attend virtually, but that did not prevent protests at its new California headquarters. Protestors disrupted and blocked the entrance to the in-person portion of the meeting demanding a boycott of Chevron due to its policy of enabling Israel’s war in Gaza. 

“Chevron is literally fueling the genocide being waged against Palestinians,” said Matt Leonard of the Oil and Gas Action Network. “We are protesting at their global headquarters during their annual shareholder meeting in support of the growing call to Boycott Chevron for their legacy of human rights and climate abuses in Palestine, and around the world.”

Inside the meeting, Chevron CEO Mike Wirth paraded the same rote lies about Chevron’s concern for human rights and the environment, claiming Chevron “actively participates in many efforts to address climate concerns.” He refused to acknowledge the protests and moved quickly through the business of the meeting. Several concerned shareholders did manage to get resolutions past the tighter Trump-era SEC regulations and Chevron’s ongoing opposition. This year two important resolutions about separating board chair and CEO, as well as the special meetings threshold, were successfully blocked by the company. One of those resolutions – which has gained significant shareholder approval in the past – specifically cited Chevron’s Ecuador disaster and $9.5 billion liability. 

But Chevron, the largest contributor to global warming emissions among all investor-owned oil companies, has earned its reputation as a systemic human rights violator and gross polluter that engages in extrajudicial attacks on critics in the media. As such it faced a resolution from the American Baptist Home Mission Society calling for a third-party report on human rights practices. The resolution, introduced by Richmond environmental justice activist Alfredo Angulo received a significant 22% YES vote from shareholders. This resolution not only cites the 2021 report Chevron’s Global Destruction, but Chevron’s Ecuador liability and its strategy of legal bullying through SLAPP suits. Wirth responded that the report was “riddled with errors” but notably the company has refused to respond to specific questions from Congress about the details of the report and the $50 billion it owes to governments and affected communities (all of which are obtained from court filings and public records).

“Despite Chevron’s attempts to hide its actions and community outrage from its shareholders and board of directors, this year’s AGM was a reminder that Chevron maintains the mantle as the world’s worst fossil fuel corporation. Refusing accountability, denying reality, bullying its critics, and even victims of its own contamination is the actual ‘Chevron Way.’ Chevron CEO Wirth has more blood on his hands than ever before, and the global boycott gains momentum each day. Affected communities from Richmond to Ecuador to Palestine will continue to fight in a united effort to hold it to account,” said Paul Paz y Miño, Amazon Watch Deputy Director. 

“Chevron deliberately dumped more than 60 billion gallons of toxic oil waste into our communities for decades and caused a massive health crisis. Thousands have already died and we continue to live in the midst of Chevron’s contamination. This is because the company and its executives refuse to pay for a clean-up. Meanwhile, they make billions of dollars in profits every year and use that money to attack us and say we are criminals. And when they tell you that in order for the industry to grow, someone has to sacrifice, it is a fact that they are not the ones who sacrifice. The ones who sacrifice are the people who live on the sites, the ones who are directly impacted by all this. They call us a sacrifice zone. If we really want to put an end to all this, we have to start by first of all putting an end to this camouflaged racism that comes from the big corporations.

That is why we will remain anti-Chevron and stand in solidarity with every community affected by Chevron. We will never stop fighting for justice for everyone harmed by this company. That is why we first declared Anti-Chevron Day in 2014 and we call on the international community to stand with us until justice is served and Chevron is held accountable,” said Donald Moncayo, President of UDAPT, Ecuador

Laura Peterson, corporate analyst and advocate at the Union of Concerned Scientists, who attended Chevron’s shareholder meeting virtually, said, “Chevron faces a rising tide of litigation and liability for its decades of deceptive public relations, outsized contributions to heat-trapping emissions, and horrific record on human rights. Chevron is now named in lawsuits by more than 40 state, local, and tribal governments across the U.S. and its territories seeking to hold the company accountable for deceiving the public about the dangers and causes of climate change. As is clear from this year’s proxy statement, Chevron is failing to acknowledge and disclose the risks that its business practices pose to shareholders and, most importantly, to communities around the world. Chevron must be held accountable.” 

David Tong, report author and Global Industry Campaign Manager at Oil Change International, said: “Our findings reveal how it’s clearer than ever that oil and gas companies – the climate arsonists fueling climate chaos – cannot be trusted to put out the fire. There is no evidence that big oil and gas companies are acting seriously to be part of the energy transition. Chevron’s climate plans fail to align with international commitments to phase out fossil fuels and to limit global temperature.”

Steven Donziger, Human Rights Attorney targeting by Chevron for his successful efforts to challenge it in court added, “Chevron is not only one of the world’s most flagrant polluters, the company literally wrote the playbook on how corporations can undermine democracy and the rule of law to try to silence their critics. In my case, the company corrupted a pocket of the U.S. judiciary to target me with the nation’s first corporate prosecution after I helped Amazon communities in Ecuador win a landmark pollution case. Criminalizing lawyers and Earth Defenders – along with systematic toxic dumping – is at the very core of the company’s business model and permeates its culture worldwide. Through its repeated misconduct, Chevron has turned itself into a global pariah that should be barred from operating anywhere until it complies with the law and remediates the oil waste it dumped in Ecuador’s rainforest.”

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