At Shell’s annual meeting in London, 13 per cent of investors demanded a clear business strategy for reducing the company’s oil focus.

Follow This and the co-filing institutional investors requested Shell to disclose its strategy for creating shareholder value under scenarios of declining oil and gas demand. Shell urged shareholders to vote against it.

Although the vote was convincingly lost, 13 per cent voted in favour of the resolution filed by Follow This and 21 institutional investors managing $1.2tr in assets, including Lothian Pension Fund and West Yorkshire Pension Fund. Follow This pointed out that as up to 99 per cent of shareholders supported the board on the 22 other resolutions, double digit support clearly indicated a degree of shareholder discontent.

“Our new resolution resonates with investors who see where the energy market is going,” said Mark van Baal, CEO of Follow This. “Once again, Follow This ignited a debate oil majors want to avoid.”

Shell advised shareholders to vote against the resolution by stating the question is “comprehensively covered by Shell’s existing disclosures”. However, Follow This alleges that Shell does not publish a strategy for creating shareholder value under scenarios of declining oil and gas demand.

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