When Exxon Sued its Own Shareholders Rather Than Debate Them About Climate Change

The case made headlines in 2024. But the full story of what led up to it—and how the lawsuit is still reverberating throughout the investor world—is the subject of my newest feature.

I’m only a couple weeks away from completing the Ted Scripps Fellowship in Environmental Journalism at CU Boulder, and the thought of no longer getting to live in a pretend reality—where I’m somehow paid to hang out on a university campus, audit classes, and go on cool field trips—makes me sad. It’s been an incredible and enriching couple of semesters.

As for what’s next? Watch this space; I should be able to make an announcement soon.

But first, a new story to share!

This feature for The Lever is the result of my fellowship project, and the story idea came directly out of one of my classes last fall. During a lecture, a teacher mentioned that Exxon Mobil Corporation had sued its own shareholders when a group of them filed a climate resolution. The investors’ non-binding proposal had asked the company to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

I thought that sounded unusual—a corporation suing its own stockholders?—and so did other writers back in 2024; the case received a fair amount of coverage along with labels like “unprecedented” when the lawsuit was announced. But as is often the case with breaking news, the initial round of coverage missed much of the depth, backstory, and context that feature journalism can provide.

As soon as I started poking around, I knew this case would be my project focus. I found fascinating material, which included looking back on the unlikely origins of shareholder activism in the 1980s.

What emerged was the story of a maverick activist in Amsterdam, an everyman-turned-corporate investor who became one of Big Oil’s greatest threats. It’s the story of how shareholder activism became a viable tool to address the climate crisis, and how Exxon set out to deliberately crush the tactic. And it’s the tale of how this seminal case in 2024 set off ripple effects still being felt today, coinciding with a dark money campaign designed to ensure that powerful corporations don’t have to listen to their own shareholders. As Mark van Baal, the main subject of the piece, put it, it’s what happens when the empire strikes back.

Thanks for giving the piece a read, and as always, please let me know what you think!