You have the power to change oil and gas companies forever.
If you want to see oil and gas companies:
become a Green Shareholder and have your say on the future of the oil and gas industry.
oil and gas companies only listen to their shareholders.
Make BP listen by becoming one today.
Liza Rubinstein Malamud
Co-founder, Carbon Equity
Oil and gas companies aren't acting fast enough to avoid devastating climate change. In fact, with every new investment they make into extracting more oil and gas they are speeding up the warming of our world.
Profits and their shareholders drive their decisions and both are locking us into fossil fuel dependence when we really need to transform.But there is a way to make them change.
With thousands of people just like you becoming shareholders we’ve managed to table resolutions that when passed will legally bind oil companies to the Paris Agreement. Resolutions give shareholders like you a say in the running of the company and are one of the most important rights a shareholder has.
Even minority votes that are not legally binding, have a huge impact. Our resolutions at Shell, Equinor, BP, Phillips 66, and Chevron have all led to those companies having to reluctantly accept accountability for their product emissions (Scope 3, accounting for 90% of their total emissions) as a result of minority shareholder votes.
With the support of more shareholders we can lobby institutional investors like pension funds and asset managers to join the cause too. With more support we can make these votes a majority and become legally binding.
This would see oil and gas companies having to reduce their emissions (including Scope 3) in line with the Paris Climate Agreement.
This will change the world.
But it doesn't happen without people like you becoming shareholders and supporting our resolutions - join us and become a Green Shareholder today.
Oil companies have to listen to their shareholders. And investors have to state how they vote on resolutions.
Both are legally obliged to do so.
By tabling resolutions that tie the emissions of oil companies to the Paris Climate Agreement, we make it possible for all investors in oil and gas to do the right thing.
When you buy a share through Follow This you not only get to vote in favour of our climate resolutions (thanks btw) but you also enable us to be listened to by the press and, more importantly, by big institutional investors with millions of votes at their disposal.
The more members we have, the more we are listened to by the very people that are currently investing in fossil fuels on your behalf through your savings, pensions and insurance policies.
We regularly talk with these institutional investors and the more shareholders we represent, the more powerful our shared voice becomes until they have no choice left but to listen.
With your payment, you become a member of the Follow This Association.
The association then purchases shares through a broker on behalf of all members and uses the votes attached to all shares to support Follow This resolutions at your chosen oil company’s Annual General Meeting.
The Follow This Association purchases a share at today’s share price, and includes a one-time contribution of 5 euros (total price displayed) to help cover our costs.
There is no further financial obligation.
The share is yours and can be reclaimed at any time by contacting Follow This.
For more information please see our frequently asked questions (FAQ’s) below and our terms & conditions.
If you have any further questions, don’t hesitate to contact us at info@follow-this.org.
Become a Green Shareholder
We handle all the voting paperwork
Together, we vote for the future we want
Our resolutions give investors a choice that no oil company would ever give them without us: to limit global warming to 1.5C or to carry on with business-as-usual.
Become a Green Shareholder and the choice is yours too.
Buying a share not only gives you a vote, it also demonstrates to big institutional investors (banks, pensions, insurers, asset managers etc) that people all over the world want Big Oil to shift its investments from fossil fuels to renewables.
Add your vote and your weight to a growing movement of retail investors who are changing finance for good.
“We need all the methods to make change. The money exists, let’s put it to good use.”
“It feels like we’re hacking capitalism and using the system against itself which is something we need to do a lot more of.”
“It’s inspiring and empowering to come together as citizens to make change and put pressure on corporations.”
You become co-owner of the energy company of your choice.
With this, you support the mission of Follow This to compel oil and gas companies to stop climate change by putting their brains and billions behind renewable energy.
Thanks to your shares, we are able to file and vote on shareholder resolutions and speak on your behalf at the AGM.
Your share will be bought by Follow This and held in the investment account of Follow This on your behalf.
However, the share is assigned to you and can be reclaimed (sold) at any time.
Yes, when you buy a share through Follow This, we will vote in favour of the Follow This climate resolution at the oil company’s AGM on your behalf.
We encourage supporters of Follow This to buy one share, because this makes the biggest impact.
As small shareholders, our influence doesn’t necessarily lie in the percentage of the company we own (that will always remain a small percentage), but in how effectively we are able to organise shareholder support for the company to commit to the Paris agreement.
We do this in particular through encouraging large investors to vote for the Follow This climate resolutions. The more shareholders we represent, the more importance Follow This carries as a discussion partner and the more weight is given to our arguments.
This means that, in general, we achieve more impact if many people buy one share than if one person buys many shares.
The price you can find on our website is the opening trading price of today, plus a one time contribution of 5 euros to become a member of the Follow This Association.
This contribution is used to keep the organisation (of mainly volunteers) running.
Thanks to the votes of institutional investors in favour of the Follow This Climate Resolutions, Shell, Equinor, BP, Phillips66, and Chevron have all reluctantly accepted accountability for their product emissions (Scope 3 = emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, not just the emissions created in producing them).
And our resolutions have even stood up in court as evidence that indicated that Shell was far from being Paris-aligned or had any intention to devise a strategy that was. With 99% of shareholders usually voting as they are told by the board, it’s important to recognise how much impact we’ve already had together.
The 2021 Shell AGM saw 30% of votes supporting the Follow This resolution against the advice of the Shell board and we’re only getting started.
In 2015, the founder of Follow This, Mark van Baal, attended the Shell AGM where Ben van Beurden (CEO of Shell) did not take him seriously.
The next year, in 2016, the first climate resolution was on the ballot and Mark was speaking on behalf of a hundreds of shareholders.
They still did not take him seriously.
But this soon changed.
In 2016 the resolution got 3% of votes in favour of it, in 2017, it received 6%.
That was serious enough for Shell to take action and they became the first oil company to announce Scope 3 targets.
Ben van Beurden even said: “We could see a kernel of truth and relevance in there,”. Although Shell reacted negatively to every climate resolution afterwards, the support for the resolution from investors increased adn in 2021 30% of investors in Shell supported the Follow This resolution.
The same pattern is noticeable at all other oil companies. We’ve shown that oil majors start taking it seriously as soon as it gets backed up by investors, which is why we need you to add your name to the votes in favour of our resolution.
The more members we have, the more able we are to convince large institutional investors to wake up and use their huge number of votes in support of what more and more people need and want - action on climate change.
Every year, we receive a small amount of dividend per share (Shell’s dividend in 2019, for example, was around €1.44 per year per share).
As this is a small amount, we ask shareholders by email whether they would like this dividend to be transferred to them, or if they would like to donate their dividend to Follow This.
We hope that shareholders are willing to donate their dividend, as together, this makes a big difference for us and helps us in our mission.
When the total amount of dividend is less than 1 euro per person, the dividend can be paid the year after when the total amount over two years is higher than 1 euro (due to the administration overload).
In 2020, for example, the dividend was cut across a range of oil majors (e.g. to $0.17 per share at Shell, minus 15% dividend tax).
A. You can terminate your membership by sending an email to info@follow-this.org with your request and IBAN number.
B. Your share will be sold and Follow This will credit the opening share price of the next trading day to your bank account.
Through purchasing a share or making a donation, you automatically become a Follow This member.
As a Follow This member, you are subscribed to the newsletter and invited to our yearly membership meeting.
You have the power to change oil and gas companies forever.
If you want to see oil and gas companies:
become a Green Shareholder and have your say on the future of the oil and gas industry.
oil and gas companies only listen to their shareholders.
Make BP listen by becoming one today.
Liza Rubinstein Malamud
Co-founder, Carbon Equity