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, responsible for the largest share of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
[…] I spoke to Mark van Baal, founder of activist shareholder group Follow This, to discuss the merits and perils of shareholder activism, in particular with respect to climate change and Big Oil.
Their approach is as simple as it is effective. Their impact has already been made apparent at multiple Big Oil names, turning these corporations in the right direction when it comes to climate change. “Thanks to the votes of institutional investors for the Follow This climate resolutions, Shell, Equinor, BP, Phillips 66, and Chevron have reluctantly set climate ambitions covering Scope 3 already.”
[…] “But we’re not there yet. Not at all,” Van Baal adds, “so far, seven out of eight companies have set Scope 3 Ambitions. This is nice, but none of them has already set Paris-consistent Targets, made Paris-consistent Investments, or achieved Paris-consistent reductions in Emissions.”
