Responsible Investor | Follow This will pursue legal action against BP if the UK energy giant fails to reverse its decision to exclude a shareholder proposal focused on the financial risks of declining oil and gas demand from its ballot, the Dutch NGO has announced.
The resolution – which was also filed at Shell – asked BP to publish a report disclosing its strategy to create shareholder value “under scenarios of declining demand for oil and gas, including the International Energy Agency (IEA), Stated Policies Scenario (STEPS) and Announced Pledges Scenario (APS)”.
Follow This co-filed the proposal at BP with 16 investors, including Groupama AM, Ethos Foundation, Ostrum Asset Management, Lothian Pension Fund and West Yorkshire Pension Fund (WYPF).
When BP published the notice for its 2026 AGM, the Follow This proposal was not included. Mark van Baal, founder of Follow This, described BP’s move as “an attack on shareholder rights”. “We are pursuing all avenues to defend the rights of shareholders,” he said.
Vincent Kaufmann, CEO of the Ethos Foundation, said the right to place an item on the AGM agenda “is a cornerstone of shareholder democracy”. “Without it, the AGM becomes little more than a rubber-stamping exercise. Every investor, whatever their position on the underlying issue, should be concerned when a company sets such a precedent.”
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