Good morning. Good morning, everybody. Can I ask that you please take your seats, please? It's nice to see everyone. Thank you for coming. I'd like to bring our meeting to order. I'm Darren Woods, Chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil, and I'm very pleased to welcome all of you this morning, including our shareholders who are participating via the internet. For those of you who are with us this morning, I hope you've had a chance to speak to some of our employees out front on some of the booths. In fact, let me just take a moment. I'd like to ask all of our employees to please stand. You beat me to it. These men and women are among the 70,000 people around the world who are working for all of you.
I think recognizing them with a warm round of applause was very appropriate, so thank you for that. The results that I will share with you today are their results, and I can tell you, I'm very privileged to represent them and to speak on their behalf. Next to me is Jeff Woodbury, the Vice President of Investor Relations and the Corporate Secretary. Jeff will help run our meeting this morning. Before I turn it over to Jeff, I'd like to provide an outline of today's proceedings, including how to be recognized. He will also outline the proposals to be covered and the process for voting on them. He'll confirm that there's a quorum, which allows me to begin the business of the meeting. I'm going to start with an overview of ExxonMobil's work, our business plans, and our vision for the future.
Next, I'll cover the items of business. Closed. The formal business of the meeting will conclude. The Inspectors of Election will provide the preliminary voting results regarding our business. Following this discussion, I'll close the meeting with a few remarks. At this time, let me turn the meeting over to Jeff.
Thank you, Darren. Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. I would first like to take this opportunity to familiarize everyone with the safety features of the auditorium. In case of an emergency, we will be notified through the public address system. Emergency exits for the ground level, as shown on the screen behind me, are situated at the rear of the auditorium, where you entered, and down in front on either side. If we need to evacuate, please proceed to the nearest exit, and the Meyerson personnel will guide you to the best way out. In addition, for safety reasons, we ask that you do not block the exits. To ensure that the meeting is productive and conducted in the interest of all shareholders, there are certain guidelines governing this event. In the program, you'll find the rules of conduct to ensure defense.
Disruptions of a speaker or the chairman are not permitted and will be viewed as intentional interference with the meeting. Only shareholders as of the record date or their properly appointed proxies will be entitled to speak during the meeting. The laws of New Jersey, where ExxonMobil is incorporated, provide that no business can be brought up for a vote unless proper notice has been given to all shareholders. Therefore, in the fairness to other shareholders not in attendance and in keeping with the laws that govern our annual meeting, formal business at today's meeting is restricted to items included in this year's proxy statement. Admissions desk in the lobby and verified that you are the proponent or a duly authorized proxy under New Jersey law. Presenters whose credentials have been verified will be given a blue presenter's pass.
If neither the proponent nor the authorized proxy has checked in, we will presume the proponent is not present, and I will move the proposal for the purposes of the orderly conduct of the meeting and so that the shareholder votes cast may be recorded. However, I will not be acting as a representative of the proponent. Minutes to present the proposal while the usher holds the microphone. Time may not be shared with another speaker, and no second to the motion is required. During the discussion period, if you wish to make comments, please fill out a speaker identification card that is included in your program provided to you as you entered the lobby. This card confirms that you meet the requirements to speak at this meeting.
Move to a reserved aisle seat, remain seated, and raise your hand holding your speaker identification card to indicate that you wish to speak. When recognized, give your completed speaker card to the usher. Please stand and begin by stating your name With the microphone. We request that individual shareholders respect the rights of others to speak, and please keep your comments brief. We ask that matters of personal interest not relevant to all shareholders be meeting. Due to the need to conclude the meeting within a reasonable period, we cannot assure that every shareholder who wishes to speak will be able to do so. As we have done in the past, we have provided a timing system with lights that will help speakers manage their time. I would now like to demonstrate the system.
When a speaker is recognized and an usher has arrived with a microphone, a green light will come on at the displays will be activated only after the speaker has been recognized. When the speaker's time remaining reaches 30 seconds, a yellow light will turn on. A red light will indicate that the speaker is at the end of the time allowed, and at that point, we ask that you conclude your comments. As we typically note at the outset of similar this statement contains information regarding today's presentation and discussion. You may also refer to our corporate website as well as supplemental information defining key terms that we'll use throughout the meeting today. This morning, there are seven items of business.
We'll begin with the three board proposals regarding the election of directors, ratification of independent auditors, and an advisory vote to approve executive four shareholder proposals shown on the proxy statement. Proponents of shareholder proposals or their authorized proxy will introduce their proposal. It's the policy of the corporation to provide confidential voting to shareholders. If you didn't include comments on your vote, your proxy card hasn't been seen by the company. Anyone wishing to vote in secret at this meeting can obtain an envelope from the ushers. Proxy cards will be collected. A list of shareholders entitled to vote is available for your inspection. If anybody wishes to examine this list, an usher will of Computershare Trust has been appointed the Inspector of Election for this meeting. She has taken an oath of office. Notice of this meeting has been properly given.
The Inspector of Election has determined that a quorum is present. There are 3.6 billion shares represented at this meeting. That equates to approximately. Now I'll turn the meeting back to the chairman. Thank you.
Thank you, Jeff. I direct that the determined number of shares entitled to vote be filed with the minutes. I declare a quorum present and the meeting ready for business. I want to take some time to share some personal reflections. This is my second annual meeting as chairman, but my first employees, world leaders, and many others. People with a wide range of views on issues operations. I made it to Antwerp and Rotterdam to see our new expansions, to Guyana, where we're making exciting deepwater discoveries, to the Gulf Coast to thank the many heroes who helped with the hurricane recovery. All these trips and varied experiences left me with one feeling, a very deep sense of pride. Doing incredible work, creating the energy, and making the products that improve the lives of billions. This is more than just a company committed to making the world better.
I can tell you I'm very proud to be part of it, and I hope that some of you take pride in being part of it. We're working very hard to develop opportunities and get the most out of our businesses. We're focused on the fundamentals and on leveraging our competitive advantages to grow shareholder value. We're committed to this. We're all and other pressing societal challenges. Our plans for the future, which I'll share with you today, reflect these commitments. By 2025, our plan has the potential to more than double our earnings. Continues our investments in game-changing lower emissions technologies. Through record discoveries markets, we've put together the best portfolio of new investments since the merger of ExxonMobil nearly 20 years ago Integration, and most importantly, our people. Our plans are all about creating value for you, our shareholders, by meeting and evolve.
In the late 1800s, we were largely a kerosene company. That's what our customers needed. Ford mass-produced cars. A market for one nature of our business. We've always adapted to society's change. Across more than 135 years, we've evolved and transformed from a maker of lamp fuel to a maker of motor fuel. From supplying the Wright brothers' first airplane to supplying the space shuttle. From relying on rubber from trees to developing butyl rubber to support the war effort. From turning natural gas, once a byproduct of oil, into a cleaner fuel for electricity. From not only refining hydrocarbons, but also reforming them into chemical products like high-efficiency plastics. From filling tanks with gasoline to potentially filling them with biofuels made from algae. So do we. We have a very long history of consistently rising to and meeting the challenges of a dynamic world.
Many in society are looking for solutions that address the risk of climate change. Provide more information on the implications for our company and how we manage the risk. We listened. In this year's energy and carbon summary, we went even further in sharing our insights. Insights gained through operating one of the largest company committed to a sustained research and development effort. Society has aspirations for economic growth, reliable and affordable energy, and environmental protection. We see our role as helping close the ga This is what I believe sustainability is all about. Sharing ideas and solving challenges with smart, dedicated people across this company is what I have come to enjoy most about this job. Sharing some of our ideas with you today. Let me turn now to our view of the future of energy. As I mentioned, that's where we start. Energy is critical to human development.
It's no surprise the market for oil and grow and prosper, you need access to reliable and affordable energy. I've seen the positive impact access to energy can have. Growing up, I moved all around the world and spent time in a number of developing countries, and I saw firsthand the difference energy role our industry is playing in raising living standards all around the world. To better understand the global market for energy and our company's role in, you have to break it down by sector. Not all energy demand is the same. Different sources meet different needs. There are four primary demand sectors: transportation, commercial. Each sector's energy needs are different. The transportation sector, for example, requires energy-dense portable fuels, especially for heavy-duty vehicles. That typically means liquids like diesel. Different emissions profile.
As an example, the industrial sector has higher worldwide emissions than transportation or societal demands and energy sources evolve, so does the mix and the amount of different energy supplies. With a prominent role for oil and natural gas. In 2040, oil and natural gas will likely meet about 5,500 million barrels a day. That's up from about 160 million today. Other sources. This outlook is based on assumed advanced advances in technology could be dramatically different. Technology is truly the X factor. The history of our industry shows how technology can value. Public policy is another critical factor. When developing our outlook, we assume that public policy will evolve. In fact, we had anticipated and incorporated impacts of the commitments that eventually emerged from the Paris Agreement, an agreement that we've always supported Approach to a global challenge.
It commits both developed and developing countries to reducing emissions and making progress towards achieving a 2-degree outcome. We looked at a wide range of 2-degree scenarios through 2040 in all of them. This analysis also confirmed that more technology is needed, and that's why. Cut emissions. In the electricity generation and industrial sectors, carbon capture and storage is one of our major focus areas. It's a scalable solution and will be critical to achieving a 2-degree scenario for research. Since then, we've made even more progress with our partner, FuelCell Energy. Next-generation biofuel is another technology we're taking the lead on significant emissions. New biofuels could address both of these issues. We're making exciting progress with that uses algae as an energy source. This past year, we announced a breakthrough that resulted in a modified algae that more than doubles its oil content.
It achieves this without significantly slowing growth, which is a key challenge along the path to commercial scalability. Earlier this year, we entered a new phase of our research growing algae. In the industrial sector, we're looking at ways to reduce heating and cooling and therefore energy and emissions for a range of processes. This sector of our work in this area is a project with Georgia Tech that could significantly reduce the amount of emissions associated with manufacturing plastics. Chemical building blocks for polyester and plastics. Results of the research were published in a peer-reviewed journal, Science. Be more energy efficient. This not only saves money, it cuts emissions. Since 2000, we've improved energy efficiency. Since 2013, we've used technology to reduce emissions intensity in our chemical business by 7%. Cut greenhouse gas emissions.
By 2020, we're targeting a 15% reduction in methane emissions with a focus on our methane leak detection systems play an important role in this. We're also targeting a 25% reduction in flaring. These efforts are the latest in our ongoing drive to develop lower emissions energy solutions. Since 2000, we spent more than $9 billion in this area. It's good for the environment, it's good for our business, and it remains a priority. Let me turn now to our investment strategy. Oil and natural gas are consumable energy sources. Reservoirs don't refill. Without investment, we cannot meet demand. Maintain, let alone grow available supplies. For this reason, meeting the world's growing energy needs will require trillions of scenario. We're doing our part to meet this challenge and grow our business.
Our current plans increase our earnings potential by 135% by 2025, assuming an oil price of $60 a barrel. Our advantage, we mean those projects that enable us to maximize the value of our technologies, our integrated businesses, and our people. This maximizes the return for you. Many of our advantage investments are in the upstream. Mozambique and Guyana to name just a few. There's our new manufacturing operations in Texas and in Singapore. Our investment plans, like every aspect, focused on success factors that are true regardless of market conditions. We leverage areas where we have unique competitive strengths. The first fundamental, the right way, time after time. Safety performance is one measure of this. Keeping people who work in our and the disciplined approach required to consistently do this result are an industry leader in safety. Project Deep experience and hands-on management.
Mega projects offshore Eastern Canada are delivering industry-leading results. Underlying both of these fundamentals is another. This company. Behind every successful well, our people. We put a priority on recruiting and retaining the most talented, most creative, and most dedicated in the business. Integration and technology are two other fundamentals which distinguish us from others in the industry. Let me discuss the importance of each. Producing energy and products from oil and natural gas require a complex infrastructure. Our Permian and Gulf Coast investments are a great example of this. We work at our rig sites, moving the resources through miles of pipeline our customers demand. Because we fully integrate our value at every link. Our whole is more valuable to you than the sum of our parts. Technology is another fundamental where we have a significant competitive advantage.
The energy landscape has gone through dramatic changes over the years, primarily driven by advances in technology. Our sustained investment in R&D, unmatched in our industry, often enable us to lead these changes and to capitalize on them. Let me briefly describe how we apply these fundamentals in each of our three business lines. As I said earlier, we've developed the richest portfolio of investment opportunities since the merger. Our potential for earnings growth is strong. No industry can match our opportunity set today. In the upstream, you've heard about our exploration success in Guyana, one of the industry's biggest discoveries over the past three years. We've also gained access to world-class LNG opportunities in Papua New Guinea, in Mozambique. We recently won blocks. It is a rich and diverse portfolio, and they are very good investments.
Our LNG projects in particular are key, enabling cleaner natural gas to replace coal for electricity generation. These upstream investments take advantage of our capabilities in project execution and operational excellence, linking many of them to our refining and chemical assets. We're able to apply a suite of industry-leading technologies. Examples include advanced seismology, integrated reservoir modeling, and data analytics. These innovative tools enable us to identify and develop the best opportunities and maximize the value we create for you. Our turnaround time from discovery to production is one of the best in the business. All of these projects will be producing by 2025. At that time, they will make up half of our upstream earnings, again, assuming an oil price of $60. They will also represent a threefold increase in our upstream earnings potential. Let me turn now to the downstream.
Here, the name of the game is upgrading, shifting the product slate from lower value fuel oils to higher value refined fuels, lubricants, and chemicals. Increase your profit by squeezing value out of every molecule. We do that by leveraging our proprietary technology. Technology that we developed that isn't available to our competitors. Two world-class hydrocrackers at Rotterdam and technology to produce higher value products. [inaudible] in Asia Pacific also provide key advantages. By 2025, our downstream earnings potential will double. Finally, let me update you on our chemical business. No other major integrated oil and gas company has a chemical business that compares with ours. Our competition are the pure chemical companies that do nothing else. Even here, we're in the top tier.
The chemical business strategy is both growing capacity and upgrading to higher value part of modern life, from preserving food to making cars lighter, which helps reduce emissions. Technology like innovative catalysts to turn hydrocarbons are changing the world, like plastic films that are. Integration adds significant value here as well. From advantaged feed and shared facilities with refineries, to leveraging upstream project expertise, to the Permian to Gulf Coast network I referred to earlier. We have great access to booming markets around the world. 2025. The investments we're making to grow each of our businesses all aim to do one thing, maximize value for you, our shareholders, and for society. We have a long history of doing this. For a capital-intensive business like ours, a critical measure of this value is Return on Capital Employed, where we have consistently led industry.
Our investment plans will further strengthen our leadership position. At current prices, we expect to more than double our earnings potential while growing our returns. As I indicated, this growth is shared among all of our business lines. Everyone is contributing to the bottom line. Since our projects are uniquely advantaged, they are robust to a low-price environment. Not many other companies can say this with confidence. We're committed to sharing the success with you, our shareholders, through a reliable growing dividend. For generations, we've been a leader in dividend growth, which we maintained again this year when we increased the dividend by 6.5%. It was our 36th consecutive annual increase. The higher earnings and cash flow from our investment plans underpin our ability to continue this trend. Let me end my comments where I started.
It's the mission of this company to create shareholder value by creating societal value. Increasingly, our customers, partners, and stakeholders demand more energy and fewer environmental impacts, including emissions. Our job is to help close the gap between what society wants and what is economically available using advantaged investments and promising technology. As society's needs continue to evolve, we'll continue to respond. That's what this company and our people are committed to doing. That's our purpose, and we have a plan to fulfill it. I want to thank you again for the confidence you've put in our company. Let me turn now to the formal business of the meeting. We have seven proposals to consider, including the election of directors. The proposals will be presented in the order they appear in the proxy statement. The polls are now open.
If you wish to change your proxy instructions on any of the proposals or if you have not submitted a proxy and wish to vote by ballot, they are available from the ushers. Please raise your hand if you would like a ballot at any time during the formal business. They'll be collected after all items have been introduced. The first proposal is the election of 10 directors. I nominate the 10 highly qualified to serve on the board. All of our nominees are currently serving as ExxonMobil directors. I'd now like to ask each of our nominees seated to my right to stand as their names are called. Susan Avery. Angela Braly. Ursula Burns. Kenneth Frazier. Douglas Oberhelman. Samuel Palmisano. Steven Reinemund. William Weldon. Thank you.
I'd like to also take this opportunity to recognize one of our directors who's retiring and not standing for re-election, Dr. Michael Boskin, who has served on our board for 22 years. I know I speak for all of us in your wise counsel in the boardroom. Thanks for the many years of dedicated service. The next item on the agenda is the ratification of PricewaterhouseCoopers as the independent auditor. The board's Audit Committee team, we are asking shareholders to ratify that appointment. PwC is represented today by Mr. Tom Smith. Tom, would you please stand? Thank you. The Audit Committee's reasons for recommending PwC appear in the proxy statement. I move to adopt this proposal. The next board proposal calls for a shareholder advisory vote to approve executive compensation. The board recommends a vote in favor of this proposal.
The next order of business is the consideration of shareholder proposals. Now, before we begin, shareholders' suggestions or discussions. Last year, for example, we engaged with shareholders holding about 30% of our total shareholdings. In a number of instances, we adopted shareholder suggestions. An example of this is the board diversity. For most proposals we receive, we agree with the underlying principles and stated objectives. For those following along, details can be found in the proxy statement. The first shareholder proposal calls for an independent chairman. I understand that Michelle Holder Taylor will present the proposal.
Good morning, members of the board and fellow shareholders. My name is Michelle Holder Taylor, and I present the proposal filed by Kessler Foundation of Maine and co-filed by the State of Vermont Pension Fund, requesting the separation of positions of chair and CEO. This resolution has been before shareholders for the last several years. The resolution is not a criticism of our new CEO or of ExxonMobil. It is a request for what we consider best governance practice and proposes the policy of a separate independent chair be phased in when a new CEO is next chosen in the future. We believe an independent chair and board can improve a company's focus on governance matters, strengthen accountability to shareholders, and thus in the best interest of our company.
It is widely recognized that chairing the board is a very time-intensive job, and separate chair also frees time for our new CEO to focus on running the company until former chairman, worth repeated. Is a company a sandbox for the CEO, or is the CEO an employee? If he's an employee, he needs a boss, and that boss is the board. The chairman runs the board, so how can he pin them? Company has this policy and hundreds of U.S. companies do as well. By 2017, boards at 36% of S&P 1500 companies has an independent chair, and 55% have separate chair and CEO. There is a strong growing investor support for this reform. This resolution was filed at several dozen companies last year.
ExxonMobil current position is that the proposal would unusually reduce the flexibility of the board to elect leadership structure, that separate roles should not be managed, and that the board is not wed to this model of continued CEO and chair. We understand that the board wishes the flexibility to choose either a combined or separate chair, but tradition has great power. At present, we fear that whenever a new CEO is chosen, that the board would continue this tradition of combined roles. In fact, as far as we know, the board has no guidelines to help it assess what are the pros and cons of a separate chair or a combined chair. We would urge a set of guidelines be prepared to help with this assessment.
This is a crucial time for companies to demonstrate compensation that is not compromised if a CEO is the first among equals on the board. Thank you.
Thank you, Michelle. In response to the proposal, let me share with you the board's perspective. We agree with you. Dedicated to representing the interest of shareholders and providing, and I can assure you our board does this, does not undermine this objective. That's where we disagree with the proponents of this proposal. It's important to note that nine of our 10 directors are independent, including the presiding director. The board believes that independent board leadership is effectively provided by the presiding director. Also, the Board Affairs Committee, Public Issues and Contributions Committee, Audit Committee, and of course, the Compensation Committee, are all chaired by independent directors. We believe the board should retain flexibility to determine the leadership structure that best serves the interest of shareholders. Therefore, the board recommends shareholders vote against this proposal. Meetings. I understand that Frank Roscher will present the proposal. Frank?
Mr. Chairman, board, Kenneth Steiner. Resolved, shareholders ask the board of directors to take the steps necessary to give the owners of 10% of the outstanding common stock the power to call a special shareholder meeting without the cumbersome need to petition a judge. Special meetings allow shareholders to vote on important matters, such as electing new directors that can arise between annual meetings. The proposal topic won more than 70% support at Edwards Lifesciences in SunEdison in 2013. A shareholder right to call a special meeting without the cumbersome need to petition a judge to bring an important matter to the attention of both management and shareholders outside the annual meeting cycle, such as the election of directors. Scores of Fortune 500 companies provide for shareholders to call special meetings without the cumbersome need to petition a judge and act by written consent. 17 annual Exxon meeting.
This 40% support could have been higher, for instance, 45%, if small shareholders had the same access to independent corporate governance information as large shareholders. Please vote yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Frank. We agree that shareholders should have a meaningful right to call a special meeting. This right is already provided for in New Jersey, where we're incorporated. Current law allows shareholders holding 10% of our company's outstanding stock to call special meetings with a showing of good cause. We believe that requirement to show good cause is prudent. It demonstrates legitimate purpose and protects against abuse. The board recommends shareholders vote against this proposal. The next shareholder proposal asks that a board diversity matrix be included in the proxy statement. I understand that Michelle Holder Taylor will present this proposal as well. Michelle?
Good morning again. Once again.
Morning.
I'm from New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, I'm here to present Proposal 6 on behalf of New York City Pension Funds. New York City Pension Funds have $194 billion in assets and are substantial long-term Exxon shareholders with current holdings of about 9.2 million shares. Item 6 calls for disclosure of a board matrix that includes each director's gender, race, ethnicity, as well as their skills, experience, and attributes that are most relevant in light of the company's business long-term strategy and risk. A diverse board in terms of relevant skills, experience, gender, and race ethnicity is a good indicator of a well-functioning board. The need for Exxon to have a diverse climate competent board is especially important given the long-term strategic challenges it face in order to transition successfully to a low-carbon future.
Exxon directors may be highly accomplished, but it's difficult for shareholders to assess whether they are the right directors individually and collectively to oversee Exxon on our behalf. The bar chart in the proxy statement that lists aggregate directors' attributes tell investors nothing about ability of individual directors, nor are the specific attributes wealth gives shareholders a big picture view of the director's attributes and how they fit together. Our office has had productive discussions with management and directors at dozens of companies. By contrast, all five of our requests to engage directly with an independent Exxon director went unanswered. As a result, Exxon board is today an outlier in the opposition to disclosure of a meaningful board matrix. Exxon peers such as Chevron, Occidental Petroleum, and IBM disclose board matrices.
Other companies providing first-time disclosure this year include PepsiCo, Exelon, Wells Fargo, Colgate-Palmolive, Honeywell International, and Duke Energy, among others. I urge a vote-
Get your perspective on that. We agree that diversity of experience, background, gender, and ethnicity is critical to board competence. Our board benefits from varying perspectives that diversity brings. Diversity is required. Instead, we've provided detailed in our website for each individual director. We've also provided an overview of the collective competencies and the diversity against this proposal. The last shareholder proposal calls for a report on lobbying, and I understand that Ricky Brooks will present the proposal.
Mr. Chairman, board, fellow shareholders, my name is Ricky Brooks. I'm a 19-year employee at ExxonMobil at the Baytown Refinery. On behalf of the United Steelworkers and 25 co-filers, I hereby move item seven, shareholders' proposal about lobbying. Corporations spend millions of dollars with trade associations that lobby indirectly course model state legislation such as the American Legislative Exchange Council. As a shareholder, we currently have no attorney, but we know AT&T spent $600,000 of company funds to hire a personal attorney to the President of the United States. For five years, AT&T has had similar shareholder resolutions regarding lobbying. ALEC positions on workers' rights, health, and safety on the job are particularly troublesome to us. We see their impact in how our company is unilaterally implementing complex and confusing safety changes in Baytown. For decades, these safety practices have been mutually agreed upon to ensure workers' health and safety.
The company is also seeking to tear down and roll back contracts, provisions, and arbitration awards to achieve its goal of a regional or global permitting system. Shareholders should be concerned that core health and safety. Our company's arguments against item 7 states that shareholders can use government websites to get this information. Filers of this proposal have engaged numerous experienced researchers. I can assure you that if government websites exist, it is not easy to find. In January, our company told proponents it would offer a tutorial on where to locate the data, but unsurprisingly, the tutorial has failed to occur. We urge a report, our reputation could be at stake. Finally, I'd like to show support of the Exxon Mobil Council of several ExxonMobil support of unfair labor practices at its Australian operations.
The company's Australian subsidiary, UGL, and slashing maintenance workers' wages up to 30%, cutting benefits for 200 maintenance contractors, and imposing it works longer periods of time. It is time for the dispute to come to a fair and reasonable end. Thank you.
Thank you, Rick. Let me thank you, too, for your years of service at Baytown. You had quite a few things in that talk there. You'll find Baytown is probably one of the safest, I know it's one of the safest refineries we have in the circuit and one of the safest, actually, in the whole world. I think great progress that we're making in safety. On the Australia incident, I understand the contractors and the union there are continuing to have discussions, which I continue to fully encourage. I think ongoing dialogue is important to resolving all the issues there. On the poor appropriate transparency and the disclosure of lobbying activities and our expenditures. We believe our compliance with existing federal and state disclosure requirements achieve this objective. ExxonMobil complies not only with the letter but also with for many years and are comprehensive.
To summarize, the board believes the company's existing disclosures are appropriate, and therefore recommend you vote against this proposal. All items of business have now been introduced. If any of you have proxy cards, please hand them to the ushers. If you would like to change your vote, simply mark the appropriate sections in the ballot. The ballots will be collected and turned over to the inspector. If you wish your ballot to be kept secret, the usher will provide you with an envelope. I cast all votes that we have been authorized to cast in accordance with the instructions indicated on the individual proxy cards. I now declare the poll closed.
Since you've all been sitting for a while, I invite you, if you'd like, to stand and stretch for a minute. For those wishing to address the meeting in the discussion period, this would be a good time to move towards those reserved seats in the aisles. Let's take a short break. Ladies and gentlemen, if we could, resume the meeting. Please take your seats. I can tell from the chatter that was a much needed break. I'm glad you got a chance to stretch and talk to a few folks around. We'll start now with some questions. I'm going to hand it over to Jeff, let him orchestrate the Q&A session.
First, the Inspector of Election is ready to report the preliminary vote. May we have your report, please?
Mr. Chairman and Mr. Secretary, at least 3.6 billion shares of stock of the corporation have been voted on the seven items of business discussed at today's meeting. Voting results are expressed as a percentage of total votes cast. According to New Jersey corporate law, abstentions are not votes cast. Subject, I report that on average, 97.6% of the votes cast were voted to elect as directors the 10 nominees listed in the proxy statement. On the resolution concerning the ratification of independent auditors, approximately 97.3% of the shares voting thereon were voted for, and 2.7% were voted against. On the resolution, approximately 72.9% of the shares voting thereon were voted for, and 27.1% were voted against.
8.7% of the shares voting thereon were voted for, and 61% were voted against. On the resolution concerning shareholder Excuse me, special shareholder meetings, approximately 36.0% of the shares voting thereon were voted for, and 64.0% were voted against. On the resolution concerning a board diversity matrix, approximately 16.5% of the shares voted against. On the resolution concerning our report on lobbying, approximately 26.3% of the shares voted against. My written reports will be submitted to the secretary as soon as they are completed. Thank you.
Thank you, Paula. Action will be followed with the minutes of the meeting. The final votes on each of these matters will also be available on exxonmobil website.
Let me just say that we respect our shareholders input and will consider all the feedback that we've received, regardless of whether the resolution received a majority of the votes cast. This concludes the formal business of today's meeting. I'll hand it over to Jeff now to moderate our Q&A session and open the floor to any questions regarding ExxonMobil's business. Jeff.
As previously indicated, if you want to speak, remain seated and raise your speaker identification card to indicate that you want to address the meeting. When recognized, give your completed speaker card to the usher. Please stand and begin by stating your name. You may speak for up to two minutes while the usher holds the microphone. Please make your comments as brief as possible so we can accommodate as many speakers as time allows. We will continue to use the lighting system to help you manage your time. First priority will be given to those who have not yet had the opportunity to speak. We welcome your questions and comments at this time. Maybe we'll start in the shirt with the sunglasses.
Hello. My question relates to the recent dividend increase to $0.82 per share to do what seems like a large increase given the current commodity price environment. Thank you.
Well, thank you for the question. All right, I appreciate the balance in that questioning. I would tell you, every quarter, the board responsibility that we have, to our shareholders to provide a reliable and growing dividend, and we think about it in the context of the capacity and capability of the business, the yield that we're getting on the shares. A number of factors that go into it.
Our most recent decision, I would tell you, and the strength of that dividend increase reflects the plan that I talked about today and shared with you, the opportunity set growth that opportunity sets, from an earnings standpoint, is going to result in, which will underpin. Obviously, the commodity cycles play a role in that strength of that and this most recent dividend, after coming out of a very low commodity cycle where we kept dividends fairly low, was an opportunity to catch. Thank you for that question.
Gentleman over on the far right, sitting down with the dark suit, please.
Thank you, Mr. Hunter Martin from Houston. My wife and I have been attending these meetings for 25 years, and we're grateful for the service that you and all the others render and especially the 36 years of consecutive dividend increases. For those of us who have owned shares in Exxon from years remember when debt was a word foreign to Exxon. We revered in the fact that we were considered darlings of investors. We realize that the market share of our stock. You've been dealt a most difficult hand. Wall Street is virtually negative about today's performance, and it's embarrassing to me who love this company. I do not mean to be impolite or cranky, Brian, to you or the board. In the words of Mr. Wonderful on "Shark Tank
Well, thank you for the question of our shares. I will tell you, I don't find your comments out of order or cranky. I think they're perfectly legitimate to address. In fact, we have tried through the presentation to get the company to grow value. If you think about what ultimately is going to drive shareholder price is going to be shareholder team. I can assure you the management committee and myself have been very focused on working hard to make sure that we're leveraging every competitive advantage that we've got in the company to grow shareholder value and grow earnings. I think does that. In fact, if you look at the planned growth depending on where the price environment is, and if the price environment is lower than what we've assumed, we're still going to grow earnings.
Even in a low price environment, 135% where we were in 2017. I think even in a low price environment are on that. I think the plans demonstrate our focus on that and we're doing it across each of the businesses. I hope to find as the years go forward that your visit, that's what we're very focused in working on. Thank you for the question.
Man in the suit behind Ms. Holder Taylor, please.
Thank you. I'm Julian Martinez, I represent SER-Jobs for Progress National. We'd like to note that ExxonMobil has been very instrumental in providing educational resources like STEM and STEAM to Hispanic students and would like to thank you for that support and for all the other communities support you provide. We would like to note that ExxonMobil has management team. We urge you to rectify this shortcoming. We'd also like you to consider participating in Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility Corporate Inclusion Index about their engagement with the Latino community. The American dream is alive and well. Hispanics born in this country are more-- The Latino population grew 57% between the year 2000 and 2014 and accounted for over 43% in 2013. US Latino purchasing power is $1.5 trillion, which makes US Latinos the world's 14th largest economy.
We hope that ExxonMobil has a vision to incorporate these changes. Thank you.
Thank you. Thanks for the comments. I will assure you that promoting is a focus area and a priority for me and the rest of the management team, not just at Dallas at the corporate level, but as you go through our Corporation, I would tell you that all of our managers are focused on making sure and a potential to advance and to realize their full potential. Our objective is making sure that happens. We put a lot of structure into helping ensure that that happens, in steering it through our businesses to make sure that we're looking for opportunities to improve, identifying areas where we don't like what we're seeing, and addressing those. I think over the years, we've seen great progress with the diversity of our workforce.
Starts when you hire, and you hire in class, and then as that class advances through the organization. We track the diversity and the groups from the day they come in the door, as they advance, to make sure that they are advancing at the same rate and at the same pace and getting the same amount on. We've seen that continue to grow and to impact the whole of the business. I'm confident over the years you'll continue to see growing diversity in the corporation, reflecting the diversity of the population that is available to us to come into the company, which tend to be engineering and technical degrees. I take your point. I think it's an important one, but I will also tell you it's one we're very focused on developing.
We go back to the right, the lady in the white dress.
I'm Nancy Keen, and my question is about the concern of the oil industry and ExxonMobil of our domestic infrastructure assets, particularly in the refinery area, production, and pipeline.
Thank you. That's a really important topic and one that is evolving every day. It's a big challenge, I think. Things that I travel in recognize the threat and the risk. Our corporation has recognized that threat from very early on and has built that risk and that exposure. It starts with the structure, the architecture of our systems, where we have made sure that we separate the critical process control computing systems for our plants and our process and operating computing systems, and we've been very successful with that. We also have a very substantial program of continuing to upgrade and put in new systems to check for viruses, continually working to harden our employees to use USB ports, because one of the common things out in industry for viruses to get into computers is through these USBs.
Somebody finds a USB and plugs it into a computer. Our computers, so people aren't allowed to stick USBs in, which has reduced it. We don't allow people to use personal email on our computing systems because we found we've eliminated that. We've taken a lot of steps to try to protect our systems. The other thing that we do, which in talking to my peers around the different industries, we're fairly unique in, is we test our employees very routinely with mock attacks to see how they respond, and we track that. We're able to engage in conversations and help train and make people more sensitive. I would tell you today, when we have our tests out there to test our employee base, we have the lowest failure rate probably of anybody in the industry, at any industry in the U.S.
When I talk to Michael Dell or I talk to other industry execs and talk about what we're doing and the failure rate that we're seeing, he said they're unheard of levels. I feel good that we have been focused on this, and we're working it the right way. On the other hand, this is a continually evolving threat and one that we have to stay on top, be faced, and continue to work for as long as I can see going into the future. I feel confident that the tools available to us today, we're drawing on the best that's out there, and we've got a very qualified group of people helping us manage that, and we've got our workforce very attuned to that. I wouldn't tell you that I'm comfortable. Thank you, though.
Okay, going back to the right, the gentleman in the blue shirt.
My name is Glenn Sampson. I was an employee for 35 years, been a shareholder for almost 50 years. My question has to do with what steps, if any, or studies, if any, the company is making to be able to continue to operate in the event of an electromagnetic pulse, EMP attack on the U.S. As you probably know, North Korea has threatened that. Iran has threatened that. There is a cost of only $3 billion. We could harden all of the electric grids in the nation. No one involved is trying to spend any money. My question is Exxon looking at that in terms of our own assets, are we doing any talking with electric companies, with the government?
The estimate is that if there were an EMP attack over the center of the U.S., that approximately 60% of us would be dead within a year. Thank you.
Well, thanks for your years of service and your coming to the meeting. Rather than talk specifically about that threat, let me just talk more broadly about how we manage risk. I would tell you, it starts with making sure including risk like the one that you're referring to. We have relationships and engagement with a variety of government agencies, think tanks, to make sure that the understanding of the threat scenarios that are out there are understood. We put that risk exposure, we lay that across. We have a process for each of the business managers who have responsibility for those facilities and businesses that are exposed to those risks would be on their operations, what the probability of those risk are, how that would manifest itself in their exposure.
Two, respond if that risk was to manifest itself and impact the operations, how would we respond to that? A very detailed process, a very comprehensive process across all of our businesses, making sure understood explicitly characterized and then clear, explicit process that we continue to update on a regular basis. Ensure that our facilities and operations stay on top of that and evolve with those threats is a pretty important aspect of that program. At the end of the day, we're a risk management business, exactly what we do, and your question falls into the heart of that, frankly. Thank you.
Okay, on the left side, the gentleman in the suit with the blue shirt, red tie.
Mr. Chairman, my name is Sudarshan Singh. I'm a retiree of ExxonMobil. My question is regarding whenever we, ExxonMobil, has the earnings report, the analysts always point out as one of the factors, either we have a flat or a decline in production as one of the reasons for the stock performance. My question is, with the oil prices hovering around $80 a barrel, what is ExxonMobil's plan in Canada? Are we planning to increase our Canadian operations? Especially considering we have extensive proven reserves, which can help increase the production.
Okay, thank you. That's a good question. You're right. It is brought up pretty frequently. Let me just start at a more philosophical level, which is we are not managing the business and the upstream, in particular, on a volumes basis. The way we think about our investments and our business is making sure that what we do and the investments that we progress are advantaged to be robust to a wide range of price environments and has to generate a superior return to what the average in the industry would be. That requires lining up opportunity sets with our inherent skills and advantages. That's a process that we've been going through. From the presentation that I gave, you can see that a number of those have come to maturity around this time, and we've now built that into our plan.
Hence, the comments that I've made that this is the richest. That's a function of the work that has been happening in the years past to make sure that we line up the opportunity set with the investments. The volumes will fall out of that. I think what you will see in this plan that we've laid out through 2025 is a growth in volumes of about 1 million barrels a day from where we're at today to 2025. So we get to about 5 million barrels a day as we execute these plans. Not an objective unto itself. With respect to Canada, and I would tell you more broadly with all of our investment opportunities, we have a pretty thorough process of evaluating the robustness of that investment and the profitability of that investment, broader portfolio of opportunities.
Every investment opportunity is fighting for space. That's the process that we go through. Canadian opportunities are in the mix with others, what we tend to do is make sure that we're selecting the highest value opportunities first and progressing those first. That's the process that we go through every year because our organization finds a way to improve it, bringing in new technology, bringing in improving returns, improving productivity. That's kind of an ongoing process, and investments will move around within that portfolio based on how much better the organization can make those returns. I would tell you the Canadian investment opportunities are competing in the portfolio. They're getting their fair hearing, and then we're making the best. Thank you. Okay. I believe we have time for 1 more question. The gentleman on the far left.
Well, my name is Joe Meyer from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I'd like to talk a minute about the safety performance on the Gulf Coast. Several years back, we implemented a program that was called LPS.
in order to come up with a new implementation of driving down the number of people getting [inaudible] . The Let's Pretend Safety program penalizes, punishes, and disciplines an employee who reports this incident or gets hurt. The employee not report that incident for fear of getting disciplined. Therefore, it does not accurately. That is a scary thing for both the corporation and for the employee. I'd like it's intended to do and help the employee really have a productive employment and a safe employment. We need to do something better than what we currently have. Thank you.
Well, thank you for your comments and familiar with. I've been responsible at a plant level, responsible for implementing LPS at a regional level, and then at a global level, and now corporately looking at safety across the whole of the organization. I would tell you, your experience is very different than the philosophy of that system of LPS is to make sure that people are learning from the beginning by those incidents and near misses that we get better and improve. Therefore, it is the antithesis of what you describe, which is to say it encourages people to talk about, and we've had great success with that. You can look at the numbers around the world, a lot more near-miss reporting, a lot more learnings going on of injury across our corporation, across all parts of the corporation. We're not perfect from a safety standpoint.
I would tell you we're making tremendous progress. We're on the right path. We've got more work to do, LPS has played a very important role in that. I don't care if you're talking to our construction project managers in facilities, they all will tell you when we use LPS the right way, you encourage the dialogue conversation. It's not about punishment, it's about learning. We've had great success with that. Not sure why your experience is different with that broader theme and experience set across the corporation. I would encourage you to engage in that conversation with your supervisor because we've had great experience across the corporation. It's an example of where learning and getting better is directly impacting not only the lives of the people who are in our facilities working, but also all the people associated with it.
One that I'm very, very proud of, quite frankly. I think we're out of time for questions. Let me thank all of you for your questions and, more importantly, for your interest in our business. Before we close, I'd like to share a video our employees and how they're helping to meet the world's energy needs while protecting the environment.
As the and ExxonMobil is playing a big role in providing it, making advantaged investments in different corners of the world, growing production, providing jobs, building new facilities, and upgrading others to make economic development all around the world. We're working on ways to provide energy while addressing the risks of climate change. Producing clean-burning natural gas to reduce emissions before it reaches the atmosphere. Exploring unexpected energy sources like biofuels made from algae. We're also investing in ways you might not expect. Helping communities prevent malaria and supporting education. Energy. It powers our lives today, and more committed to providing it than the people of ExxonMobil.
Thank you. As we wrap up this year's annual meeting, I'd like to briefly summarize some of the key points we covered today. It's the mission of this company, your company, to create value for our shareholders by creating value for society. We do so by responding to society's changing needs for energy, economic growth, and environmental protection. More people around the world are demanding more energy, fewer emissions. Our business strategy, and fourth, just as we have throughout our history, we're focused on the fundamentals, we're focused on our competitive advantages, we're focused on continuing to create value for all of you. The board and I have great confidence in our plans for the future, and we're grateful for the confidence you've placed in us. Thank you for coming today. At this time, I'm going to close the meeting, and I wish all of you safe travels.
Thank you.