GLOBAL - Pension fund campaigners have just lost the latest battle with energy giant BP, to gain more financial, environmental and social information on the implications of extracting oil sands.

A resolution was tabled ahead of BP's annual general meeting (AGM) today calling for more disclosure on the impact of this practice.

However, the vote went against campaigners and just 6.1% of the vote swung in favour of the resolution, while 93.9% were against, excluding abstentions.

The exact numbers of vote in favour of the resolution demanding additional information was:

For: 622,272,418 Against: 9,497,638,714 
 Votes withheld/abstentions: 1,020,301,075

Following the vote, supporters of the resolution claimed BP had "carried the vote but not the argument".

Catherine Howarth, chief executive of FairPensions said: "Shareholder resolutions are primarily a means to draw attention to an issue of concern to investors. The vote today is only one outcome of a wider process, which has catapulted tar sands risks to the top of BP's agenda, and has become a major topic of debate in the City. The task for investors now is to make the most of the disclosures made to date, and continue to robustly engage with BP into the future. This will be matched by an unprecedented level of scrutiny from campaigners, politicians and members of the public."

Over 140 institutional investors, including several major US, UK and Australian pensions funds alongside asset managers, argued ahead of today's vote for additional information, in a campaign spearheaded by FairPensions. (See earlier IPE stories: Oil sands resolution continues to gain pensions support, LAPFF opposes oil sands campaign and back BP and Campaign targets members to drive pension fund voting)

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