Calls for business and investors to focus on stakeholders beyond shareholders aren’t new. Most business people understand the need to deliver for customers, suppliers, employees and communities, even if shareholders come first. But shrill demands from aggressive activists on social media and elsewhere are relatively new, and many business leaders are understandably rattled.

The energy sector, in particular, now has a choice. Should CEOs capitulate to the demands from the green left to prematurely close down coal and gas generators, without regard for customers? Or should they focus more on those quiet Australians in the suburbs and regions, the small businesses they run and the industries they work for?