Follow This pauses climate resolutions
New York Times | For the first time in nearly a decade, major climate activists won’t be pushing oil giants hard to cut emissions and transition to clean energy, partly because of President Trump’s actions to silence climate action.
A climate activist hits the pause button
The oil giants will be limping into the start of proxy season this week with battered share prices and with Brent crude, the global benchmark, trading near a four-year low.
But for the first time in nearly a decade, major climate activists won’t be pushing them hard to cut emissions and transition to clean energy, partly because of President Trump’s actions to silence climate action, Vivienne Walt reports for DealBook.
Follow This, the Dutch climate shareholder group that has been hounding energy companies for years to clean up their act, stepped back from its campaign of filing proxy resolutions, predicting a lackluster response from investors.
Tough new S.E.C. guidelines for shareholder proposals have already had a muzzling effect, too.
Mark van Baal, the founder of Follow This, spoke with DealBook about his organization’s decision to back off at annual general meetings this year. The group has had big wins, but has also faced a string of dud votes in recent years.
Why have you paused shareholder resolutions this year?
Since 2016, we’ve managed to get four super majors to set emissions reduction targets. That is something they absolutely didn’t want to do. Then, with the war in Ukraine, with high oil prices, the companies started fighting back. We got 20 percent votes three years in a row. We thought, “OK, it is not effective.”
What factor did Trump play in your decision?
Donald Trump, and the S.E.C. under Trump, makes it impossible to file resolutions. They will call our kind of resolutions micromanaging.
With the Trump election, and states suing investors for considering climate risks, that has added to investor uncertainty. They are afraid of the repercussions, that they could be sued for considering climate risk.
The S.E.C.’s new guidelines force investors into passivity. Investors don’t want to be confrontational with the companies, and they have to confront companies. In Europe, the regulators are not appointed by politicians. We hope that investors will join us.
What is next for activist shareholders like you?
The institutional investors have only one key action — vote at the A.G.M.s.
We’re taking a pause to speak with them. BlackRock, Norges Bank and Legal & General, for example, talk all the time that they want to tackle the climate crisis. But when push comes to shove, they don’t use their vote.
