The most telling line in a new activist letter urging Exxon Mobil Corp. to embrace environmental sustainability has nothing to do with sustainability:
Whatever the level of future oil and gas demand growth may be, ExxonMobil has no obligation to spend aggressively if doing so is likely to deliver suboptimal returns.
Engine No. 1 LLC, the new fund targeting Exxon, has the backing of the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, with stakes adding up to about 0.2% of the market cap. So this is like a speedboat taking on a supertanker. What makes it noteworthy is that Exxon effectively fashioned the weapons the activist is now brandishing against it.