Shareholders are crucial to unlocking energy transition Opinion piece in The Financial Times. Mark van Baal is the founder of Follow This. Every so often, the CEO of a big...
In the media
Archive
Record support for Follow This climate resolution at TotalEnergies thanks to coalition of 17 investors
May 26 2023
Investors seize opportunity to urge TotalEnergies to drive down emissionsPRESS RELEASEA growing shareholder rebellion of 30% (up from 17% in 2020) voted in favour of the...
One-fifth of Shell shareholders maintain demand for emissions reductions to meet Paris by voting for Follow This climate resolution
May 23 2023
Majority of investors miss an opportunity to urge Shell to drive down emissions by 2030PRESS RELEASEInvestors miss the opportunity to urge Shell to drive down emissions by...
World’s largest investor alliance Climate Action 100+ flags Follow This climate resolution at Shell
May 10 2023
For the first time, the Climate Action 100+ lead investors* at Shell are endorsing the Follow This climate resolution, demonstrates an investor briefing released today. ...
A group of 188 French scientists and experts calls on TotalEnergies investors to vote in favour of the Follow This climate resolution and against the company’s own climate strategy
May 9 2023
Le Monde — A group of 188 scientists and experts condemn the ‘carbon bomb’ represented by the French multinational’s oil pipeline project in Uganda. ...
TotalEnergies’ bet on gas means no big emissions cut by 2030
March 22 2023
Reuters — TotalEnergies’ bet on gas means no big emissions cut by 2030 French oil major TotalEnergies forecasts its overall greenhouse gas emissions will not see a big...
BP insists it is not slowing green transition to cash in on high oil prices
March 6 2023
The Financial Times — BP insists it is not slowing green transition to cash in on high oil prices The boss of BP’s US business has insisted that the company is sticking with...
Shell’s Profit Soared to $42 Billion Last Year
February 3 2023
The New York Times — Shell’s Profit Soared to $42 Billion Last Year Shell, Europe’s largest energy company, reported a bumper profit for 2022 on Thursday: $42.3 billion,...
At most 14% of Shell’s investments to renewables in 2022 despite windfall profits
February 2 2023
PRESS RELEASE response Follow This to Shell’s 2022 results Shell’s investments (cash Capex) in the division Renewables and Energy Solutions (RES) were $3.5 billion...
Big Oil poised to smash annual profit records — sparking outcry from campaigners and activists
February 2 2023
CNBC — “I have called 2022 the year the empire struck back,” Mark van Baal, founder of Dutch shareholder activist Follow This, told CNBC via telephone....
Leading investors join shareholder activist with climate resolutions at Big Oil
December 19 2022
Resolutions focus on Scope 3 emissions reductions in 2030 Leading investors with assets under management of more than € 1.3 trillion* join activist shareholder Follow This...
Follow This on NHK Japan: ‘The only people Big Oil has to listen to are their shareholders’
June 23 2022
Dutch shareholder activist Mark van Baal challenges the power of Big Oil and urges these influential companies to abandon fossil fuels and commit to a fossil free...
Investors reject climate proposals targeting ExxonMobil, Chevron
May 26 2022
The Washington Post | The proposal calls on the companies to set medium- and long-term targets for aligning their emissions trajectories with the Paris agreement. While...
Shell suffers drop in investor support for climate strategy
May 26 2022
Financial Times – Follow This, which submits the same resolution at several oil and gas companies, argues that Shell must commit to an absolute reduction in the scope...
Shareholders back Shell’s climate strategy after raucous meeting
May 25 2022
Reuters – Shareholders backed Shell’s climate strategy while a climate activist proposal from the Follow This group received fewer votes than last year....
Big Oil investors reject calls for stricter climate goals — so far
May 13 2022
The Washington Post | Investors in three of the world’s largest oil and gas companies this week rejected proposals for the firms to set stronger climate targets, as...
Big Oil braces for shareholder revolt over climate plans in proxy voting season
May 11 2022
CNBC – Some of the world’s largest corporate emitters face the prospect of a shareholder rebellion this month, with climate-related votes poised to spike...
“There is no single oil major with a good plan to decrease emissions this decade”
April 6 2022
Follow This founder Mark van Baal at Bloomberg’s Sustainable Business Summit: “We need big oil with their brains, their billions, their global reach to speed up...
Shell U-turn on Cambo oilfield would threaten green targets, say campaigners
March 23 2022
The Guardian – Climate activists have reacted with concern to reports that Shell is reconsidering its decision to abandon development of the Cambo oilfield, warning...
Occidental loses bid to throw out green Follow This resolution
March 17 2022
Financial Times | SEC will force oil and gas producer group to hold vote on tighter emissions targets. “It’s telling that the SEC basically states that even Occidental —...
Shareholders at four U.S. oil companies to vote on climate proposals
March 14 2022
Reuters – Shareholders at four U.S. oil companies will vote in the coming quarter on proposals for the firms to meet emissions targets set out in Paris in 2015, said...
Shareholders asked oil giant Chevron to cut emissions. Now some want the chairman ousted
March 9 2022
The Washington Post – A shareholder advocacy group filed papers Tuesday asking investors in the energy giant Chevron to oust the chairman and another board member...
BP has ambitious plans to move beyond fossil fuels – but are they enough?
February 10 2022
The Guardian | The oil giant revealed its four-fold increase in profits alongside pledges on investment in cleaner energy. Investors and climate activists have raised...
“Absolute emissions have to go down strongly, 45%, that’s what Paris means”
January 25 2022
During the last week of May 2021, significant gains were made in the battle against climate change. In this episode, Becky Annison talks to Mark van Baal, the founder of the...
Can activist investors really make a difference?
January 12 2022
If you care about saving the planet, one campaigner argues it’s time to buy a stake in big oil firms. Activist group Follow This is encouraging investors to buy shares...
Want To Stop Climate Change? Buy Big Oil Stock
January 11 2022
Forbes | In an age in which stock trading is no longer reserved to Wall-Street and a climate crisis is becoming a reality, sustainability-driven shareholder activism was...
The climate victories of 2021 that put fossil fuels in check
January 1 2022
From local activism to shareholder rebellions, here’s what climate advocates accomplished over the last year. The shareholder rebellions Activist investors leveraged their...
Oil majors under pressure as activists circle
December 20 2021
Financial Times | For decades campaigners have picketed oil and gas offices, blockaded refineries and disrupted operations. Now the energy sector is facing a new kind of...
Follow This targets Exxon with shareholder climate resolution
December 13 2021
Reuters | Climate activist group Follow This targeted Exxon Mobil Corp with a shareholder resolution urging it to deepen its carbon emissions reduction targets, ramping up...
Big Oil ‘can make or break the Paris Climate Accords,’ Follow This Founder says
December 13 2021
Yahoo Finance | Mark van Baal, Follow This Founder, joins Yahoo Finance’s Zack Guzman and Akiko Fujita to discuss the latest initiative to pressure Big Oil to do more...
Shell investors back moving HQ from Netherlands to UK
December 10 2021
Financial Times | Royal Dutch Shell shareholders have overwhelmingly backed sweeping changes to the company’s share structure and tax residence, paving the way for the board...
Shell walks ‘tightrope’ of demands amid climate pressures
December 10 2021
Associated Press | Royal Dutch Shell on Friday received approval from shareholders to simplify its archaic corporate structure, which grew out of the merger more than a...
Shell’s New Emission Targets Fall Short, Activist Investor Says
November 19 2021
Dutch group Follow This brought a motion at Shell’s annual general meeting this year urging it to set targets for Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions — those produced by the...
As pressure to decrease emissions grows, Shell and BP increase emissions
November 19 2021
A lot has happened in recent weeks: The pressure on Shell has grown: new research shows that Shell wants to increase emissions this decade, pension fund ABP has dropped...
Activist fund Third Point calls for break-up of Shell
October 28 2021
Financial Times | Royal Dutch Shell is under pressure to break itself up after the activist hedge fund Third Point built a large stake and accused the oil supermajor of...
One of world’s biggest pension funds to stop investing in fossil fuels
October 26 2021
The Guardian | One of the world’s largest pension funds, ABP, is selling its €15bn-worth of holdings in fossil fuel companies, including Royal Dutch Shell, claiming it had...
Chevron Sets Goal of Cutting Carbon Emissions in Operations, but Not for Products
October 13 2021
Wall Street Journal | Chevron said it has an “aspiration” to reduce or offset carbon emissions from its operations to zero by 2050. Chevron’s net-zero announcement was...
How to reform the oil industry from within
October 5 2021
Mark van Baal, founder of Follow This, explains in an interview with American magazine Mother Jones why oil companies have to change – and how shareholders can play a...
ConocoPhillips bets $23 bln on U.S. shale oil as rivals retreat
September 21 2021
Reuters – ConocoPhillips Chief Executive Ryan Lance on Monday doubled down on U.S. shale and the world’s continued demand for oil with his second blockbuster...
Radio1 interview Follow This: Dutch pension fund PME stops investing in fossil fuels
September 16 2021
One of the larger Dutch pension funds PME will stop investing in fossil fuels. 1.2 billion euros in shares will now be available for wind farms and other new energy...
NEWS
- Investors miss opportunity to urge ExxonMobil and Chevron to drive down emissions by 2030 as votes for Follow This climate resolution fall
- Time is up for Big Oil’s business model
- Record support for Follow This climate resolution at TotalEnergies thanks to coalition of 17 investors
- One-fifth of Shell shareholders maintain demand for emissions reductions to meet Paris by voting for Follow This climate resolution
- Your votes for climate resolutions will show your commitment to Paris and safeguard your portfolio