While the focus on ESG in the investment community has been gradually increasing over the past few years, its popularity has been catapulted forward by successful activist campaigns at energy companies during the spring of 2021, most prominently the proxy contest led by Engine No. 1 against Exxon Mobil. For the first time in years, activist pressures related to an ESG issue (in this case, climate change), directly caused a substantial turnover in the board of a public company. Some have dubbed it “Activism 2.0”, while others are skeptical about its fundamental motivation – what is behind ESG shareholder activism, and is this strategy here to stay?