JPMorgan, Exxon Spurn Rigid Emissions Data as SEC Mandate Looms

JPMorgan, Exxon, Chevron and Goldman Sachs this year have won shareholder support to keep using greenhouse gas emissions calculations that activists say are murky and misleading, as the SEC looks to make public companies boost climate data transparency.

Investors at the big banks and oil companies rejected activist shareholders’ proposals pushing them toward more rigid absolute emissions metrics for their climate goals and away from the more flexible greenhouse gas intensity measurements that companies say better fit their business priorities while helping fight climate change.

The resolutions included proposals that priortized absolute emissions reductions for fuel consumption and ...