Dutch healthcare pension fund Zorg en Welzijn (PFZW) will vote against Shell’s own sustainability plan for the first time at the oil giant’s AGM on Tuesday, the NRC has reported.

Instead, the pension fund will support the resolution drawn up by climate activists Follow This, which calls on Shell to cut carbon emissions more quickly.

‘We do not think Shell’s strategy goes far enough, but we do want to keep talking, we want to continue to encourage Shell in a positive way,’ PFZW chairwoman Joanne Kellermann told the paper.

PFZW supports Shell’s goal of zero carbon emissions by 2050 but not the means to get there, much of which will be achieved by planting forests to compensate for carbon emissions elsewhere.  

Shell’s plans, Kellerman said, are ambitious but not ambitious enough and PFZW would like to see the company go further.

Read our interview with Mark van Baal of Follow This

In 2019, 6% of Shell shareholders backed Follow This, but the total had risen to 14% last year. Supporters include Dutch investors such as insurance giants Aegon and NN Investment Partners and the engineering pension funds PME and PMT.