Shareholders Change the World

Mark van Baal founded Follow This in 2015 to push oil majors like Shell, BP, and TotalEnergies toward the energy transition. Through shareholder resolutions, his organization pressures these companies to set emission reduction targets aligned with the Paris Climate Agreement, focusing on Scope 3 emissions. Despite initial resistance, increasing shareholder support has led oil majors to adopt climate targets. However, Van Baal stresses that without continuous shareholder pressure, Big Oil will not align with global climate goals.