A majority of Anadarko Petroleum Corp. shareholders, about 53 percent, voted on Tuesday in favor of a resolution asking the company to assess its financial risk if limits are placed on global warming, as discussed in the 2016 Paris Climate Agreement.

The somewhat rare Anadarko vote followed a majority of Kinder Morgan Inc. shareholders voting May 9 in favor of two climate-related resolutions. Houston-based Kinder Morgan is one of North America's largest energy infrastructure companies.

There also have been unusually high, but not majority, shareholder votes for similar proposals this proxy season at Emerson Process Management (39 percent), Entergy Corp. (29.9 percent) and Noble Energy Inc. (45.7 percent). Climate advocates appear to be picking up momentum.

“Shareholders are clearly expressing to companies that they want climate risk in their decision-making,” Danielle Fugere, president of As You Sow, told Corporate Counsel on Wednesday. As You Sow is the nonprofit advocacy group that sponsored the proposal.

“It definitely indicates that the issue of climate change is here to stay,” Fugere said. “The speed of technological advancements in low carbon energy, as well as global governments' increasing focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions require that Anadarko ready itself for a rapidly changing energy market. Anadarko's investors have stated plainly that they cannot weather this kind of risk without transparency.”

John Christiansen, Anadarko's vice president for corporate communications, said Wednesday, “We have worked cooperatively with As You Sow and other investors over the years regarding our disclosures around the risks associated with climate change, and we look forward to continuing that engagement going forward to continuously improve transparency that helps investors make their investment decisions.”

The shareholder concern is over how energy companies like Anadarko, which is based in The Woodlands, Texas, plan to retain their value in an increasingly low carbon energy market.

A recent analysis of Anadarko's oil and gas carbon asset risk found that 20 to 30 percent of the company's potential capital expenditure is outside of the 2-degree limit for global warming imposed in the Paris Agreement.

The Trump administration refused to sign the Paris Agreement, although the deal has widespread support elsewhere—175 other countries ratified it.

Last year was a historic one for climate change resolutions by shareholders, with two winning majority votes at Occidental Petroleum Corp. and ExxonMobil Corp. after years of failed efforts. It appears the momentum has carried over into 2018.

Fugere said the next big test for climate advocates will come May 30 at Chevron Corp.'s annual meeting. As You Sow is asking shareholders to vote on seeking two disclosures from Chevron.

The first deals with the company's best practices on methane management. “Helping to reduce methane emissions is a huge issue in terms of climate change,” Fugere said.

More important, she said, is the second issue on transition business planning. “How do they plan to transition to a low carbon economy? How will they survive?” she asked.

This story has been updated to clarify the percentage of shareholders voting in favor of the resolution.