Hello and welcome to the Intelligence on Economist Radio. I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

The drug death rate in Scotland is three times higher than elsewhere in Britain and ten

times higher than in Europe. We look into the causes of the crisis and the plans to

address it that are at last being proposed. And there are 47 indigenous languages

used in Peru, but Ketua is the most widely spoken. It used to be an almost shameful

thing, but the language is on the rise, thanks in part to a bit of nationalism and a bit of pop

music gold. First up though. The climate fight came to big oil this week. At Wednesday's

shareholder meeting of Exxon Mobile and American Supermajor, activist investors installed

at least two green leaning board members. On the same day, rebellious shareholders at

Chevron, another American firm pushed through a plan to cut the company's carbon emissions.

And a Dutch court ordered Shell to cut its emissions by nearly half in the next decade.

Landmark decision with far reaching implications for environmental policy worldwide. All three

companies have made positive noises about reducing emissions and being part of an energy transition.

But this week's trio of climate surprises shows how corporate boards, investors and courts

aren't minded to wait for oil majors to take the initiative.

The Exxon Mobile Shareholder meeting this week marks a turning point in the history of

big oil. VJ Vethi Suwan is the economist's global energy and climate innovation editor.

This is the first time a major American corporation has had to accept a humiliating defeat in

the hands of an activist investor that placed a dissident board member on its board. In

fact, not just one, calling for a fundamental U-turn on the company's strategy.

And so how did this vote actually come about?

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