Mark van Baal - Follow This (Oil & Gas Shareholder Activism)

Climate Finance Podcast

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Mark van Baal is the Founder of Follow This. Follow This has over 7000 green shareholders and engages with oil and gas companies, such as Shell, Equinor, BP, and Chevron, via shareholder resolutions. The purpose of Follow This is to unite responsible shareholders and push Big Oil to go green by aligning to the Paris Climate targets.

Check out the Climate Finance Podcast website for more information.

Topics discussed:

• Mark’s journey from a mechanical engineering student to a journalist and a shareholder activist
• Founding and evolution of Follow This from 2015 onwards
• Initial struggles with filing shareholder resolutions
• Lessons learnt from interacting with Shell and expansion towards other Big Oil giants.
• Goldilocks Trojan Horse
• How shareholder resolutions and Big Oil climate strategy analysis are written.
• Follow This framework - SATIE (Scope 3, Ambitions, Target, Investments, and Emissions).
• Follow This collaboration with major institutional investors.
• Follow This on the IPCC AR6 WG1 report.
• How Big Oil can make or break the Paris agreement.
• How the youth perceive Big Oil leadership.
• Reflection on 2021 shareholder resolutions.
• Differences in shareholder resolution results between Europe and the United States.
• How to become a green shareholder at Follow This? (Lowest price is 9 Euros for a BP share)

Note: This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as investment advice. The interview took place on 13th August 2021 and Jonas became a Follow This shareholder on 4th September 2021.