The Fennel Newsletter
Happy New Year to all of our readers! Was your New Year’s resolution to read more newsletters?
If it was, you’ve come to the right place! If not… Well, it’s not too late to change your resolution.
(Now, onto our regularly scheduled programming…)
What We’re Talking About
US Supreme Court declines to hear Exxon, Koch Industries appeal on venue in climate case (Reuters)
What happened: In 2020, a group of plaintiffs representing the state of Minnesota sued the American Petroleum Institute, ExxonMobil and Koch Industries, alleging that the industry groups knew that burning fossil fuels would lead to climate change as far back as the 1970s. But instead of disclosing these risks, the companies sought to hide the findings and undermine prevailing climate science.
The lawsuit claimed that this climate denial cost the state of Minnesota billions of dollars. Although the lawsuit is ambitious in scope, the fossil fuel defendants seem to be taking the case quite seriously, hoping to escalate it all the way to the Supreme Court.
But earlier in January, the Supreme Court declined to hear the defendants’ appeal, sending it back to the lower courts where experts expect a ruling to be more favorable for the plaintiffs.
Why we care: Recently, there’s been an uptick in state level lawsuits over climate change. This Minnesota case is actually the third time since spring 2023 that the Supreme Court turned down appeals from fossil fuel groups about their alleged climate deception.
“Big oil companies will continue fighting to escape justice, but for the third time in a year, the US supreme court has denied their desperate pleas to overturn the unanimous rulings of every single court to consider this issue,” said Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity.
Although climate change is a national and global problem, it’s also a local problem too. Different states, cities, and even neighborhoods will be affected by climate change differently, whether that means rising sea levels in some coastal towns, increased risk of fire in others, drought, air pollution, and so on. These state level and local cases paint an interesting picture as to who will be held accountable and how.
Many of these lawsuits are years in the making, but as they get closer to trial, we all get closer to seeing how they’ll pan out — and if local communities will see some sort of justice.
Shareholder Votes
Should Walgreens appoint an independent board chairman? (Jan. 25) — At large, publicly traded companies, the two most powerful people are usually the company’s CEO and its Chairman of the board of directors. However, at some companies, those two roles are held by the same person. For example, Satya Nadella is the CEO and Board Chairman of Microsoft. Same goes for Mark Zuckerberg with Meta, and Warren Buffet with Berkshire Hathaway.
Some shareholders of Walgreens Boots Alliance think this shouldn’t be the case. In fact, they’re asking for a policy where no employee or former employee is allowed to serve as Chairman.
Why? That’s because these two roles have two different goals. The CEO is supposed to manage the company, while the Chairman is supposed to represent the shareholders. When these two roles get mixed, some argue that it can create a conflict of interest.
For example, it’s the board of directors who vote on executive compensation, which means the CEO would be the one approving their own salary. It can also create headwinds for any shareholder activism campaigns.
The proponent of this proposal says that separating these two roles will allow the board of directors to provide better oversight of the company, and that these two jobs are too important for just one person to hold. Meanwhile, Walgreens says that the policies it has in place for its board are already enough to ensure guardrails are in place.
What do you think, should these two roles be held by different people?
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