FAQ

Yes, if you buy a share in Shell through Follow This, we will vote in favour of the Follow This climate resolution.

The price you can find on our website is the opening trading price of today, plus a one time contribution of 5 euros to become a member of the Follow This association. This contribution is used for administrative costs and to keep the organisation running. 

All donations will be used to directly support the mission of Follow This. Follow This is a small team made up predominantly of volunteers, so the financial support will be used for essential costs (e.g. maintaining the website, communication and financial platforms, wages, travel costs to AGM’s). Every year our expenditures are explained and approved at our annual members meeting, to which all members of Follow This association are invited (if Follow This buys a share on your behalf, you will automatically become a member). 

We encourage supporters of Follow This to buy one share, because this makes the biggest impact. As small shareholders in Shell, our influence doesn’t necessarily lie in the percentage of the company we own (that will always remain a small percentage), but in how effectively we are able to organise shareholder support for the company to commit to the Paris agreement. We do this in particular through encouraging large investors to vote for the Follow This climate resolutions. The more shareholders in Shell we represent, the more importance Follow This carries as a discussion partner and the more weight is given to our arguments. 

This means that, in general, we achieve more impact if many people buy one share than if one person buys many shares. 

We buy shares in order to work on our mission to stop climate change, not to make a financial profit. Similarly, Follow This should not function as an investment broker for our members, and we are not here to make a profit for our members. 

Furthermore, Follow This makes an impact through the number of supportive shareholders, rather than the number of shares they own, which is why we encourage people enthusiastic about Follow This to buy only one share. 

If you still would like to buy multiple shares, please send an email to [email protected] and we may be able to help you further. The 5 euro contribution will apply to every share you buy. 

Every year, we receive a small amount of dividend per share (Shell’s dividend in 2019, for example, was around €1.44 per year per share). As this is a small amount, we ask shareholders per email whether they would like this dividend to be transferred to them, or if they would like to donate their dividend to Follow This. We hope that shareholders are willing to donate their dividend, as together, this makes a big difference for us and helps us in our mission. 

When the total amount of dividend is less than 1 euro per person, the dividend can be paid the year after when the total amount over two years is higher than 1 euro (due to the administration overload). In 2020, for example, the dividend was cut across a range of oil majors (e.g. to $0.17 per share at Shell, minus 15% dividend tax), meaning that, because of the large administrative costs, we may not be able to transfer it for 2020.

You can terminate your membership by sending an email to [email protected] with your request and IBAN number.
Your share will be sold and Follow This will credit the opening share price of the next trading day to your bank account.