Adam Verwey. Image supplied by SIX
By Daniel Simons
Article Summary
Adam Verwey launched SIX to combine ethical investing with shareholder activism in Australia.
The platform lets everyday investors unite to influence corporate decisions and push for change.
SIX campaigns target major companies on issues like deforestation, gambling ads, and workers’ rights.
In the TV show 1 Trillion Dollars, a lowly bike messenger unexpectedly inherits an enormous fortune, with one condition: he must use the entire sum to "save the world".
So, given a metaphorical blank cheque, how did he approach his mission? Did he build massive solar power towers? Invest in nuclear fusion? Fund a global network of seaweed farms? No.
He quickly realised that the most radical way to change the world was to hire a corporate raider and use shareholder activism to completely reshape the global economy.
Shareholder activism might not be the first thing that comes to mind when we think about addressing climate change and the other existential threats we face, but it is quickly being recognised as one of the most powerful tools we have for creating rapid shifts and sweeping transformations.
In 2021, a small hedge fund called Engine No. 1 took on fossil fuel giant ExxonMobil. Despite holding just .02% of Exxon’s shares, they successfully won three board seats and pushed the company to adopt a more aggressive stance on climate.
Since then a growing culture of shareholder activism has bloomed across the planet. Thanks to companies like TulipShare, and FollowThis, shareholder activism has been used to compel big oil to tilt towards renewable energy, pressure Nike and Amazon to protect their supply chain workers, and force Apple’s hand on repair rights.
In 2023, American companies faced over 600 social and environmental shareholder resolutions, with 341 going to a vote. Amazon alone contended with 18 activist-led proposals at its annual meeting.
In Australia, it is a different story.
In the past, we have seen Climarte founder Guy Abrahams file a lawsuit against Commonwealth Bank for failing to disclose climate risks.
And, more recently, Atlassian CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes sent shockwaves through corporate Australia when he used shareholder activism to block AGL’s demerger and force it to speed up its clean energy transition.
Though compared to the 21 resolutions Amazon faced in 2023, the entire Australian Securities Exchange has seen just 10 resolutions over the past two years.
Adam Verwey is here to change that.
Together with co-founder Sophie Hall, he’s launched Australia’s first fintech platform to combine activism with investing.
The Sustainable Investment Exchange (SIX) makes it easy for all Australians to ride the global wave of shareholder activism - and it might just spark a ‘resolution revolution’ down under.
SIX co-founders Sophie Hall and Adam Verwey. Image supplied by SIX
From Broken Hill to a fixed economy
Adam Verwey grew up in Broken Hill, 13 hours drive from Sydney. It was in that iconic mining town - whose landscape was blighted by the world’s largest mining company, BHP Billiton - that Verwey developed his moral compass.
“One of the largest and most destructive companies in the world was making people exceptionally rich, at the expense of the people in the town that I lived in, and the way they tried to make good, was to create a mascot called ‘Lead Ted’ to remind kids to get their blood levels tested for poisoning.
“The thing that really got me,” added Verwey, “was the moment I found out that the ‘BH’ in ‘BHP’ stood for ‘Broken Hill.”
While Verwey never suffered lead poisoning, the injustice left a bitter taste in his mouth and ignited a lifelong passion for social and environmental causes.
During his university years, Verwey became the president of the Students’ Association. There, he heard one of the committee members say something that would eventually shape the course of his life and career.
“They said that one of the most powerful things anyone can do to combat the climate crisis is to make sure that their superannuation is invested in a clean fund.”
It was a pivotal moment for Verwey.
After reviewing his own super and discovering that it was heavily invested in BHP, he quickly switched it to Australian Ethical, one of the only ethical investment options at the time.
Then, after moving his cash, his career followed suit and he ended up working for the company for over eight years.
Over those ensuing years, the climate crisis intensified in severity and urgency, and while Australian Ethical was a pioneer when it came to screening out harmful companies, Verwey knew that more could be done to leverage Australia’s $3 trillion superannuation industry and accelerate the transition to a clean economy.
After an unsuccessful foray into politics, Verwey teamed up with former GetUp CEO Simon Sheikh and together they founded Future Super, Australia’s first fossil-free superannuation fund.
Launching as the divestment movement took hold in Australia, Future Super quickly grew into a culture-shaping force for change.
In 2019, they spearheaded the ‘Not Business as Usual’ alliance that asked employers to let employees take the day off to participate in the student climate strikes.
After taking out full-page adverts in Australian newspapers, the alliance quickly swelled to over 3000 members, showing solidarity with the students and giving all Australians the feeling that we had finally reached a cultural tipping point for climate action.
After taking Future Super from a fledgling startup that wasn’t much more than a website to an established company that managed over $14 billion in assets for over 350,000 people, Verwey decided it was time for another audacious and transformative challenge.
SIX co-founders Sophie Hall and Adam Verwey. Image supplied by SIX
What is SIX and how does it work?
The Sustainable Investment Exchange is a ‘one-stop-shop’ for ethical investment and trading.
“We’re like CommSec, but for impact,” said Verwey, “but we offer profiles for ASX-listed companies that allow our users to pick shares based on their values - and our brokerage fees are also lower.
“Our mission is to give all investors the information, opportunities, and influence that is usually reserved for very wealthy investors.”
While having the ability to invest in companies based on their ethical profiles is a breakthrough in its own right, what makes the platform really ‘SIXy’ is how it empowers everyday Australians to come together and hold behemoth corporations to account.
“Australia lags behind the world in shareholder activism because our laws make it so difficult,” explains Verwey.
“It’s notoriously hard for investors to influence corporate decisions - unless you’re a billionaire or a major player like a superannuation fund. For example, here we need at least 100 shareholders working together to access the same rights that a single investor has in the US.
“Our platform breaks down those barriers and democratises shareholder activism, giving everyday Australians the power to come together, join a campaign, and propose resolutions at a company's Annual General Meeting.”
SIX targets corporations and creates social or environmental campaigns that they think they can win. They then open those campaigns to the public and start pushing for change.
For as little as $500, investors can purchase shares through SIX, and if they already own shares, they can sign a simple agency agreement allowing the company to represent them.
SIX then amplifies the investors' collective impact by partnering with NGOs and advocacy groups.
“We operate on a simple yet powerful premise: collective action creates meaningful change. Through our partnerships, we aim to have one hundred thousand to one million supporters per campaign,” said Verwey. “The more campaigns we run, the bigger we grow, and the bigger we grow, the more we win.”
The hope is that the community-driven campaigns and negative publicity will compel large companies to adopt more sustainable practices.
“Our goal isn’t to force resolutions to a vote at annual general meetings unless absolutely necessary. Ideally, companies will agree to changes through dialogue and negotiation - but the threat of a resolution can be a very powerful motivator.”
This new form of activism can, in some instances, lead to potentially counter-intuitive situations where individuals are ‘investing’ in companies that don’t align with their values, but for Verwey, divestment, ethical investment, and shareholder activism have their own unique roles to play in every impact portfolio.
“Our platform allows a balance between ethical investments and activism,” added Verwey. Most people will invest 90-95% of their money into things they support and only use a small portion to push for change in companies they wouldn’t normally back.”
“From my own experience, I know that it usually feels a bit gross. But that definitely drops away quickly once you see the resolution on the agenda at the Annual General Meeting, or the impact of a good campaign - then it can feel incredibly powerful.”
For Verwey, SIX is the ultimate ‘sling and stone’ in the David vs Goliath battles that have the power to shape our nation's economy.
“Australia’s largest companies, and the world’s largest companies, have such an outsized impact on our planet and communities,” he noted.
“Globally we know that there are just 100 companies that contribute to almost all of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. We’ve got 20 companies that produce half of our single-use plastic.
If you think about employees, Woolworths has over 200,000 staff. A small change in a giant company can have a massive impact, and I think it’s clear that those companies care much more about the views of their shareholders than they do about the impact they have on their stakeholders.”
The best thing about this form of activism is that you don’t need 400,000 people marching on the streets to create change.
“With our platform, like we’ve seen overseas, even a tiny group of shareholders can achieve huge outcomes.”
SIX co-founders Sophie Hall and Adam Verwey. Image supplied by SIX
SIX in action
SIX got off the mark with six uniquely focused campaigns. They’ve targeted G8, Lovisa and Premier Investments on paid parental leave, pushed NAB and CommBank to end deforestation, taken on Woodside over their Burrup Hub LNG expansion, and teamed up with Tim Costello to pressure Seven, Nine and News Corp to #EndGamblingAds.
Their ‘Save the Skate’ campaign, which is seeking to stop Woolworths and Coles from sourcing salmon from Macquarie Harbor in Tasmania in order to protect the endangered Maugean Skate, is already gaining media attention, and demonstrating the power and potential of shareholder activism.
"We've met with Coles and Woolworths, and I firmly believe these meetings wouldn't have happened if we weren't shareholders representing investor groups," said Verway.
Image supplied by SIX
The big hairy audacious goals
SIX isn’t just building a game-changning trading platform that runs shareholder activism campaigns - they’re on a mission to become “Australia’s leading ethical investment and impact hub.
“At the moment we’re building a version of the SIX app that’s tailored for financial advisors,” said Verwey.
“After that we’re hoping to launch an equity crowdfunding feature for impact-driven startups.
“I’m also really excited about place-based investing. I love the idea that people can invest in their local community and reap both financial and non-financial benefits. So we are looking into that too.”
SIX also wants to help Australia capitalise on the disruptive potential of impact startups.
“One of the big challenges for impact startups is that it can take 10 years for investors to see a return,” said Verwey.
That lack of liquidity can make it hard for startups to secure funding, and it also means that people who can’t afford to make ten-year bets might miss out on the opportunity to invest in projects they believe in.
“We also want to make it as easy as possible for startups to embed mission and impact into their exit strategy, so they don’t have to sell to larger corporations who might not care about their core values.
“We’re dubbing it the ASX for B-corps.”
With the crises facing humanity compounding and interest in ethical investing reaching all time highs, Verywey knows that the era of “business as usual” is coming to an end.
That’s why SIX is stepping up to the crease, and driving change through the power of the crowd.
"Within five years,” said Verwey, "I’d love to see us grow into a thriving community of hundreds of thousands of people all working together to create a better world.”
By combining ethical trading, shareholder activism, crowdfunding, and place-based investing, SIX is creating a portal to a new economy where money is a driving force for change.
"We want to be the entry point for today, and the tipping point for tomorrow.”
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