BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.4.0.1//EN TZID:Europe/Amsterdam X-WR-TIMEZONE:Europe/Amsterdam BEGIN:VEVENT UID:2121@duurzaam-ondernemen.nl DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Amsterdam:20260908T080000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Amsterdam:20260908T100000 DTSTAMP:20260714T101842Z URL:https://www.duurzaam-ondernemen.nl/events/change-makers-breakfast-with -mark-van-baal/ SUMMARY:Change Makers Breakfast with Mark van Baal DESCRIPTION:One voice. One mission. Real change.\nSome people build compani es. Others build movements.\nThe Change Makers Breakfast is a series of in timate conversations with people who have turned conviction into action. P eople who challenge the status quo\, inspire others to think differently\, and prove that one voice can create meaningful change.\nThis is not a key note. It is not a polished business presentation. It is a conversation abo ut the personal mission behind the public story. About the moments of doub t\, the courage to persist\, and the decisions that transformed an idea in to a movement.\nBecause every meaningful change starts with someone who de cides to speak up.\nMark van Baal - Founder &\; CEO\, Follow This\nWhat happens when one person decides that waiting for change is no longer an o ption?\nWhen Mark van Baal looked at the climate crisis\, he saw a problem that seemed impossible to influence. The world’s largest oil companies appeared untouchable. Governments moved slowly. Consumers had limited powe r. Most people accepted that meaningful change would have to come from som ewhere else.\nMark chose a different path.\nWith no background in finance\ , shareholder activism or corporate governance\, he bought a single share and walked into a world few outsiders ever enter: the boardrooms and annua l meetings of the world’s most powerful energy companies.\nWhat started as a simple question – why aren’t oil companies aligning their busine ss models with the Paris Climate Agreement? – became Follow This\, a g lobal shareholder movement representing thousands of investors and challen ging companies such as Shell\, BP\, Chevron\, Equinor and ExxonMobil.\nThe journey was anything but straightforward. He was dismissed\, underestimat ed and told repeatedly that one person could not influence corporations wo rth hundreds of billions of dollars. Yet year after year\, support for Fol low This grew. Institutional investors joined the movement. Climate resolu tions gained momentum. And some of the world’s largest oil companies wer e forced to respond.\nThen came the backlash.\nIn 2024\, ExxonMobil took t he unprecedented step of suing Follow This in an attempt to stop climate r esolutions from reaching shareholder ballots. For many\, it would have bee n a reason to step back. For Mark\, it was proof that the movement had bec ome impossible to ignore.\nHis story is not just about climate change.\nIt is about conviction in the face of resistance. About challenging systems that seem too large to change. About turning a lone voice into a global mo vement. And about what becomes possible when someone decides to act instea d of waiting for permission.\nAt the Change Makers Breakfast\, Mark shares the personal story behind the public mission: the doubts\, the setbacks\, the unexpected victories and the lessons learned while taking on some of the most powerful companies in the world.\nMore information/register ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.duurzaam-ondernemen.nl/wordpress/wp- content/uploads/2026/07/Ben-Cohen-Mark-van-Baal-People-who-turned-convicti on-into-action-8-September-2026.jpg CATEGORIES:Duurzaamheidsprofessionals LOCATION:Salacia office\, Coolsingel 65\, Rotterdam\, Nederland GEO:51.922158;4.478428 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Coolsingel 65\, Rotterdam\, Nederland;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE=Salacia office:geo:51.922158,4.47842 8 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/Amsterdam X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/Amsterdam BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20260329T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 TZNAME:CEST END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR