Lane Lambert looks at the impact of the Engine No. 1 proxy contest on ExxonMobil and concludes that no clear conclusion is possible yet. While the company has made some incremental progress in reducing its reliance on fossil fuels, geopolitics have had a far greater impact in driving the revenues and strategy. For now.

“That’s one thing the financial industry is wrestling with,” he says. “All you’re doing is buying stock from someone else; you aren’t actually funding the operations of a company that is helping solve societal problems. In theory, by reducing demand for shares in bad-impact companies, you are raising their cost of capital, but that is a very tenuous link to any measurable social impact. That is why it’s a real challenge to talk about achieving impact in public equities.”

ESG Activists Met the Moment at ExxonMobil, But Did They Succeed? – HBS Working Knowledge