In the media
Follow This is frequently making headlines. This is an overview of articles from the international media featuring our story.
At most 14% of Shell’s investments to renewables in 2022 despite windfall profits
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 out of a total of $24.8 billion (14%), the company’s fourth quarter results published today...
Big Oil poised to smash annual profit records — sparking outcry from campaigners and activists
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. "What we saw happening in 2022 is that the oil majors used the high oil prices and the energy crisis to convince...
Leading investors join shareholder activist with climate resolutions at Big Oil
Resolutions focus on Scope 3 emissions reductions in 2030 Leading investors with assets under...
Follow This on NHK Japan: ‘The only people Big Oil has to listen to are their shareholders’
Dutch shareholder activist Mark van Baal challenges the power of Big Oil and urges these...
Investors reject climate proposals targeting ExxonMobil, Chevron
The Washington Post | The proposal calls on the companies to set medium- and long-term targets for...
Shell suffers drop in investor support for climate strategy
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 3 emissions generated from the fuels it sells. Shell’s targets are for a reduction in the carbon...
Shareholders back Shell’s climate strategy after raucous meeting
Reuters - Shareholders backed Shell's climate strategy while a climate activist proposal from the Follow This group received fewer votes than last year. "Investors have given in to Shell’s narrative that the crisis created by the war in Ukraine overrides the climate...
Big Oil investors reject calls for stricter climate goals — so far
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 fossil fuel firms reap record profits following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But the fight is far from...
Big Oil braces for shareholder revolt over climate plans in proxy voting season
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 throughout the proxy season. Dutch group Follow This, a small activist investor and campaign group with stakes in...
“There is no single oil major with a good plan to decrease emissions this decade”
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 the energy transition, or else there is no chance we will ever meet it." "The [Climate Action 100+] report...
Shell U-turn on Cambo oilfield would threaten green targets, say campaigners
The Guardian - Climate activists have reacted with concern to reports that Shell is reconsidering its decision to abandon development of the Cambo oilfield, warning that such a reversal would further threaten emissions reductions targets. Mark van Baal, the leader of...
Occidental loses bid to throw out green Follow This resolution
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 — which has some targets — is not Paris consistent. I hope the investors realise that these...
Shareholders at four U.S. oil companies to vote on climate proposals
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 climate activist group Follow This. The votes will test shareholder willingness to impose new air...
Shareholders asked oil giant Chevron to cut emissions. Now some want the chairman ousted
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 because of the company’s failure to cut carbon emissions, setting off a campaign to alter significantly...
BP has ambitious plans to move beyond fossil fuels – but are they enough?
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 concern that the plans risk falling short of expectations from both sets of perspectives. Mark van...
“Absolute emissions have to go down strongly, 45%, that’s what Paris means”
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 international pressure group Follow This, about what happened. Was this the beginning of a...
Can activist investors really make a difference?
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 in BP and Shell It wants to empower investors to influence Big Oil companies from within We spoke to...
Want To Stop Climate Change? Buy Big Oil Stock
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 bound to happen. And we see it happening, with increasing impact—especially in Big Oil,...
The climate victories of 2021 that put fossil fuels in check
From local activism to shareholder rebellions, here’s what climate advocates accomplished over the last year. The shareholder rebellions Activist investors leveraged their collective power to force major oil companies to change from within. Chevron faced opposition...
Oil majors under pressure as activists circle
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 activism: from its own shareholders. Environmental shareholder group Follow This is also opposed...
Follow This targets Exxon with shareholder climate resolution
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 pressure on the oil and gas company over its energy transition strategy. The shareholder...
Big Oil ‘can make or break the Paris Climate Accords,’ Follow This Founder says
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 in combatting climate change.
Shell investors back moving HQ from Netherlands to UK
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 to shift the Anglo-Dutch energy major’s headquarters from the Netherlands to the UK in 2022....