A group of pension funds and asset managers last month filed a
resolution asking Royal Dutch Shell to reconsider its involvement in the
expensive project, which emits more carbon dioxide than conventional drilling.
Now the Co-operative Asset Management, the UNISON Staff Pension Scheme,
a group of clients from Rathbone Greenbank and the COIF Charities Investment
Fund have filed a similar motion to BP, asking it not to commit $10bn to its
Sunrise oil sands development.
The investors, co-ordinated by FairPensions, question whether the
projects will be profitable and also raise concerns about "legal and
reputational risks arising from environmental damage and indigenous community
impacts".
Shell's chief executive, Peter Voser, recently indicated that the
company will slow its plans for growth in the Canadian oil sands region.
However, Tony Hayward, the chief executive of BP, last week suggested
that the company is prepared to press ahead with its plans in
Alberta
.
The company made it clear that it would not be responsible for any
environmental damage cause by "strip-mining", while acknowledging
that the process is still carbon-intensive.
Both BP and Shell dispute the scale of the pollution that
environmentalists claim is caused by extracting oil from the sands.