Greenpeace bought four shares in the company so it could present
the motion at the company's AGM here. After weeks of campaigning in
Scandinavia, Greenpeace Canada and Nordic gathered surprising
support for the motion across Norway, Sweden and Denmark
Although the motion was not carried, the Greenpeace initiative
received 3.6 million votes. The campaign made the tar sands the key
issue at the AGM, taking up more than half the speech by company
CEO Helge Lund and dominating the last hour of the meeting.
As the votes on the motion were being counted, Lund told
Greenpeace communications officer Jessica Wilson: "You certainly
know how to liven up a party."
In addition to the votes for the Greenpeace motion, shareholders
representing another 44 million shares actively abstained from the
vote. This is unprecedented in Statoil's history. It sends a clear
message to company management and to the government, Statoil's
largest shareholder, that it must address the environmental
destruction caused by tar sands development.
Greenpeace Canada sent a team of four to Scandinavia to support
the motion: Dr. John O'Conner, journalist and author Andrew
Nikiforuk, Melina Laboucan-Massimo, of the Lubicon Cree in Alberta
and a Greenpeace campaigner, and Jessica Wilson. They raised
concerns about the environmental, social and financial risks of tar
sands investments that reverberated through the Nordic business
community.
"The campaign push went above and beyond its objectives of
raising the issue of Statoil's involvement in the tar sands in the
Nordic region," said Martin Norman, Greenpeace Nordic climate and
energy campaigner. "In addition, we've added the tar sands issue to
the agenda of a number of key institutional shareholders and the
Norwegian Government. We highlighted the hypocrisy of Statoil and
the government on climate issues. They can't claim to have a
serious interest in renewable energy if they are investing in the
dirty oil of the tar sands."
Note to editors: High-res photo and video available at:
http://info.greenpeace.se/album/GPN_Media_Release/
For more information, please
contact:
Jessica Wilson, media & public relations officer (in
Stavanger), +45 9891 4118
Mike Hudema, tar sands campaigner, (in Alberta) 780-504-5601
Martin Norman, Greenpeace Nordic climate and energy campaigner,
+47 9580 4950