Follow This
CarbonFix cohort
Type
Founders
Type of intervention
About this project
Follow This is an activist shareholder group that presses oil and gas companies to shift their investments from fossil fuels to clean energy through the power of the shareholder vote.
Founded by Mark van Baal in 2015, Follow This crowdfunded to buy enough shares to file climate resolutions at the AGMs of Shell, BP, Equinor, TotalEnergies and Chevron. By winning over one in five shareholders, they compelled all five oil majors to adopt emissions targets that include the burning of their products — a first for the industry.
Follow This is now filing resolutions asking oil and gas companies how they will create profits and shareholder value in a world of declining demand. Even under moderate IEA scenarios, oil and gas demand declines in the 2030s — yet the majors produce forecasts of endless growth. The next frontier: asking companies how they plan to survive as governments and courts remove their licence to operate.
Our grant will go towards helping them grow their movement and find more members via their new membership program, which introduces a subscription model. You too can become a member for as little as €50 here.
Founder Q & A
(This is a short excerpt – find the full Q&A with Mark van Baal here!)
What are your proudest achievements? “We activated a sleeping giant. One in five shareholders at the major oil companies now votes with us. Five oil majors have set concrete targets for emissions from burning their products — Shell first called that resolution ‘unreasonable.’ A year later, they had a target. The total CO2 emissions the big four have committed to reduce is 400 megatons: equivalent to Germany’s entire annual emissions. We still have to hold them to those promises. But the fact they’ve made them is immense.”
What do people misunderstand about shareholder activism? “For years, oil companies and investors pointed to quiet private conversations as proof of action. But that’s not accountability. Accountability means having to formally answer — on the ballot, in front of all your shareholders, on the record. That public answer becomes hard evidence. It’s used in lawsuits. It can’t be buried in a private meeting.”