Engine No. 1
We are Engine No. 1 — an impact investment group purpose-built to create long-term value by harnessing the power of capitalism. We believe a company’s performance is greatly enhanced by the investments it makes in its employees, customers, communities, and the environment. We believe that over time the interests of Main Street and Wall Street align, and we can engage as active owners to create value by focusing on this alignment. Join us
A New Way of Seeing Value: Introducing the Engine No. 1 Total Value Framework
We believe a company’s shareholder value is directly connected to the value it creates for its stakeholders. Our Total Value Framework is a data-driven approach to investing that allows the firm to put a tangible value on the environmental, social and governance actions a company takes and then tie those impacts to long-term financial value creation.
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It’s time to Reenergize Exxon
Learn MoreWho We Are
Engine No. 1 is built on decades of experience. We are investors and builders who believe that you have to engage to effect change.
Meet the teamEngine No. 1 in the news
August 23, 2021
FORBES: Don’t Get Left Behind On ESG
– The election of three activist directors to Exxon’s Board was an eye-opener for many senior managers and C-suite executives. Yet for others it was not surprising. Numerous reports have shown that attention to climate change, environmental sustainability, and social responsibility have been, and are becoming even more, important to customers, employees, and shareholders. There is a heightened level of awareness of these ESG (environmental, social, and governance) issues in the companies that people buy from, work for, and invest in. Importantly, people are willing to put their money where their mouth is when it comes to these critical factors.
August 13, 2021
FAST COMPANY: How activist hedge funds went from corporate raiders to climate heroes
– When upstart activist hedge fund Engine No. 1 secured three seats on the board of ExxonMobil in June, it was a high-profile repudiation of the way the country’s largest oil company has long conducted business: with a laser focus on returns and a blind eye to its impact on the world at large. The fund vowed to push ExxonMobil to develop a plan to address climate change and reduce its carbon footprint. Exxon’s responsibility as a business would no longer be only to its shareholders, the boardroom showdown signaled, but also to the public and the planet.
August 10, 2021
NEW YORK (CNN BUSINESS): Meaningful ways individuals can put pressure on corporations to solve the climate crisis
– The climate crisis is accelerating at unprecedented pace, according to a new United Nations state-of-the-science report. It is "a code red for humanity," said UN Secretary-General António Guterres — and given that the report concludes the entirety of the warming is due to human greenhouse gas emissions, avoiding the worst of its consequences is up to us.
August 5, 2021
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Exxon Considers Pledging ‘Net Zero’ Carbon by 2050
– Exxon Mobil Corp. is considering a pledge to reduce its net carbon emissions to zero by 2050, according to people familiar with the matter, in what would amount to a significant strategic shift by the oil company.
August 1, 2021
BLOOMBERG: How Engine No. 1 Took on Exxon
– Earlier this year, Engine No. 1 took three board seats in Exxon to speed up the company's transition. Bloomberg's Sarah Rappaport reports on how a small fund with $272 million in assets under management took on the oil giant with a market cap of more than $267 billion.
July 27, 2021
BLOOMBERG LAW: Engine No. 1 Lessons for Environmental Proxy Campaigns
– Time will tell whether the recent success of investment startup Engine No. 1 in gaining three board seats at Exxon Mobil Corp. will prompt imitators. But the environmental proxy campaign offers lessons that could be applied in similar ESG campaigns going forward, say Schulte Roth & Zabel attorneys Ele Klein and Danny Goldstein.
July 25, 2021
NEW YORK TIMES: The Daily: The Sunday Read: ‘The Little Hedge Fund Taking Down Big Oil
– The activist investment firm Engine No. 1 had been making the case since December that America’s most iconic oil company needed a directorial shake-up. Their argument was based on the idea that failing to plan for the impact of climate change could spell the demise of a business.
July 15, 2021
CHICAGO BOOTH REVIEW: Capitalisn’t: David versus Goliath
– In a major moment for what’s come to be called “shareholder capitalism,” activist hedge fund Engine No. 1 successfully claimed three seats on Exxon's board of directors this year. Its explicit mission is to force the energy goliath to turn away from carbon and toward more clean forms of energy. On this episode of the Capitalisn’t podcast, hosts Luigi Zingales and Bethany McLean speak with the founder of Engine No. 1, Chris James, about how the fund approached the proxy fight, his views on shareholder capitalism, and the future of activist hedge funds.
June 1, 2021
NEW YORK TIMES: The ‘Mean Greens’ Are Forcing Exxon to Clean Up Its Act
– Since the 1990s, the wisest oil-producing countries and companies have regularly reminded themselves of the oil patch adage that the Stone Age did not end because we ran out of stones; it ended because we invented bronze tools. When we did, stone tools became worthless — even though there were still plenty on the ground.
May 28, 2021
NEW YORK TIMES: How Exxon Lost a Board Battle With a Small Hedge Fund
– Early this year, leaders of Exxon Mobil, the vast oil company descended from the Standard Oil empire, found themselves in an unusual situation: defending the oil giant against a tiny activist investor calling for a major shake-up in the name of climate change. Even more unusually, they were on the back foot
May 20, 2021
FINANCIAL TIMES: Exxon: a rebellion investors should back
– The Texas headquarters of ExxonMobil and AT&T are less than 20 miles apart. The similarities do not end there. Both are American titans, but have fallen on hard times in recent years. Each faces a reckoning from restive shareholders. AT&T last week walked away from its foray into entertainment to focus on telecoms. Such strategic clarity will be trickier at Exxon.
April 30, 2021
FORBES: EN1 Versus Exxon: This David Wants To Strengthen His Goliath
– I love David vs. Goliath stories. There’s a new David in town, and he’s taking on one of the biggest Goliaths ever: Exxon Mobil XOM +2.8% The name of our idealistic young sling-shooter is Engine No. 1, an amiable name for Chris James’s stakeholder-activist investment fund.
April 29, 2021
FORBES: ExxonMobil’s Investor Magical Mystery Tour (Is Waiting To Take You Away!
– By ignoring the economic realities of climate change, ExxonMobil has been on a path of value destruction for 10 years. This problem can be solved. Shareholders need to vote for all four in a slate of highly qualified board directors with broad energy experience nominated by Engine No 1.
January 28, 2021
FINANCIAL TIMES: Olive is the New Green in Fighting Climate Change
– If this week is anything to go by, 2021 will be the “Year Of Green”… Meanwhile, ExxonMobil, America’s largest oil major, is considering further cuts to fossil fuel investments and more spending on sustainable technologies.
January 20, 2021
HBR: Can a Tiny Hedge Fund Push ExxonMobil Towards Sustainability?
– Something interesting is happening among shareholders of the energy giant ExxonMobil, which may usher in a new era in activist investing. A new activist hedge fund, Engine No. 1, is pushing widespread reform at Exxon through its “Reenergize Exxon” campaign.
December 17, 2020
CNBC: How One Firm could be Leading the Future of ESG Activism
– 17-day-old firm Engine No. 1 is pushing Exxon to invest in more clean energy. CNBC’s Leslie Picker reports on how it differs from traditional ESG activism.
December 3, 2020
THE DEAL: Ex-Jana, BlackRock Execs Launch ESG Vehicle
– Charlie Penner, a former partner at Barry Rosenstein’s activist fund Jana Partners, joined Engine No. 1, a new environmental, social and governance-focused investor, which also includes experts in PE and ETF investing.
December 2, 2020
FUNDFIRE: Tech Fund Founder James Embraces Impact Investing with New Firm
– Chris James, the founder of Partner Fund Management and co-founder of Andor Capital Management - formerly one of the largest tech hedge funds - is launching an impact investment firm, Bloomberg reports.
December 1, 2020
BLOOMBERG: Hedge Fund Veteran Chris James to Start Impact-Investing Firm
– Chris James, who co-founded one of the biggest technology hedge funds in the early 2000s, is starting a firm to invest in companies that have a positive impact on society and the environment.
December 1, 2020