Post archive list

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 oil company invites me for coffee. I enjoy this courtesy, the swoosh of the lift, a seat at that...

Le Monde — A group of 188 scientists and experts condemn the 'carbon bomb' represented by the French multinational's oil pipeline project in Uganda.    The current policy trajectory takes us to a global warming of 3.2°C relative to the pre-industrial era by 2100...

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 reduction by 2030 given it wants to grow its gas business, executives said in an update on its...

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 its promised transition away from fossil fuels even though it plans an aggressive oil output...

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, more than double its 2021 total and probably a record for any British company. The company, like...

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...

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...

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 in filing climate resolutions at Shell, BP, ExxonMobil, and Chevron. The resolutions...

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 ExxonMobil and Chevron have both set goals of reaching net-zero operational emissions by 2050,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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.

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....

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 century ago of a British firm that once traded in exotic seashells and an oil company in the...

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 company’s own operations and by the use of its products by customers -- are compliant with the goals...

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 Shell, and an activist shareholder wants to split up the company. At the climate summit in Glasgow,...