Friday, May 24, 2024
La Dรฉfense, France
TotalEnergies held another tense AGM, which climate protesters did not fail to disrupt on Friday when shareholders were due to vote on climate issues and the reappointment of CEO Patrick Pouyannรฉ.
At 9:00 a.m., five hours before the scheduled start of the AGM, Greenpeace activists unfurled a banner showing Mr. Pouyannรฉ “wanted by civil society” on a building a few hundred meters from the Group’s headquarters.
Police were out in force in the La Dรฉfense business district, where the world’s fourth-largest oil company and France’s biggest in terms of profits, is holding its annual gala. Gates were set up in front of the entrance.
TotalEnergies says it chose its 48-storey tower, rather than a Paris venue, to avoid “immobilizing a district of Paris” – as it did during the tumultuous 2023 edition, which was marred by scuffles between demonstrators and police.
One year on, the pressure has not abated. On the streets or in the courts, the group remains under fire, with climate advocates accusing it of exacerbating global warming and harming biodiversity and human rights through its oil and gas activities.
“We denounce TotalEnergies’ expansion strategy, which is still geared towards the development of fossil fuels, despite its green rhetoric,” explained Edina Ifticene, Fossil Energy Campaigner at Greenpeace.
This argument was echoed by over 300 scientists, including UN-mandated experts, who signed an article in Le Monde describing TotalEnergies’ strategy as “climatically destructive”.
A number of organizations have called for the AGM to be rushed. Among them, the Extinction Rebellion movement, which is demanding “the abandonment” of flagship projects in Uganda/Tanzania, Mozambique and Papua New Guinea, and, as recommended by the International Energy Agency, “a halt to all investment in new fossil fuel projects”. Between “300 and 600” demonstrators are expected, according to a police source, who expects confrontations between environmentalists and shareholders.
In view of the “risk” of public order disturbances, the Paris police prefect has issued an order banning undeclared demonstrations around the Tour Coupole. A total of 201 people were arrested during the action in front of the Amundi premises, and only one will be the subject of a preliminary investigation.
On the agenda, shareholders will be asked to vote on TotalEnergies’ climate strategy, with some investors also calling for a more ambitious energy transition.
The Board of Directors, committed to the “strategic stability” of the company, which has generated 21.4 billion euros in revenues over the past five years, will also be voting on a new strategy.
The Board of Directors, committed to the “strategic stability” of the company, which has posted profits of $21.4 billion in 2023, after $20.5 billion in 2022, and shareholders have reappointed the CEO for a fourth term.
Patrick Pouyannรฉ reiterates that TotalEnergies is “the oil group most committed to the energy transition”. A third of its investments are devoted to low-carbon energies, including 95% of renewable electricity.
But in September, the think tank Carbon Tracker estimated that “only” the Italian oil company Eni had emissions reduction targets “potentially” aligned with the Paris Agreement. TotalEnergies came second before Repsol and BP, far ahead of Saudi Arabia’s Aramco and America’s ExxonMobil.
Humaniterre with AFP
