Follow This pauses shareholder resolutions citing lack of investor support
Dutch campaign group Follow This is not filing any proposals during this AGM season, highlighting growing reluctance among investors to back shareholder activism
The campaign group, which has been a driving force behind shareholder resolutions at major fossil fuel firms such as Shell and BP announced this morning, that it would not file any resolutions this year, stating that investors had become increasingly “reluctant to use their voting power.”
Last year, Follow This has been taken to court by oil giant Exxon for filing a shareholder proposal asking for better climate disclosures. The oil firm accused investors of attempting to change "the ordinary nature” of its business. While the case, which was widely criticised by major institutional investors as an infringement on shareholder rights and subsequently dismissed, it nevertheless highlighted the risks campaign groups face in an increasingly hostile political environment.
In March, Greenpeace was hit with a $660m fine over its alleged role in protests against the North Dakota oil pipeline protests.
Meanwhile, major asset managers, who are often the largest shareholders in oil and gas businesses have become increasingly reluctant to back resolutions. Support for climate resolutions has dropped significantly as Net Zero Investor explored in its Silent Majority Series.
During the last AGM season, BlackRock supported only 4% of climate resolutions, compared to 30% just in 2021. Similarly, Vanguard backed only one out of 279 resolutions, according to ShareAction’s latest Voting Matters Report.
Commenting on the decision to halt filing resolutions, Follow This Founder Mark van Baal said that while the resolutions had on average received the backing of one in five shareholders “filing resolutions without secured, broad investor backing could risk lower votes, potentially undermining progress. Investors need collective stamina and courage.”
The campaign group said that its mission to work with financial institutions on tackling climate change remained unchanged but that it would now focus on engaging with investors. The group now intends to explore what prevents investors, like BlackRock, LGIM, and NBIM, from casting their votes in favour of Paris-alignment despite their public climate commitments, it said.
This year, no climate resolution has been filed for the upcoming BP AGM next week despite a major U-turn of the firm’s energy strategy. Follow This had called for a vote against the BP chair Helge Lund yet he has already announced his departure in 2026. Follow This urged shareholders to continue voting against the chair arguing that the vote sent an important signal to the firm.
Investors will be filing a resolution at the Shell AGM questioning the firm’s planned expansion of natural gas. The resolution is among others supported by the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR) and Share Action.
Van Baal stressed that given the political headwinds, the importance of investors was now greater than ever: ““investors are the last resort in solving the climate crisis. Fortunately, their financial interests align with the need to tackle the climate crisis – failure to do so, will cost them billions. Institutional investors are stewards of the global economy and it will be difficult to make returns in an economy devastated by floods, draughts, wildfires, and extreme weather.”
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