Protesters outside the Salle Pleyel in Paris could be heard chanting “all we want is to bring down Total” and “one, two, three degrees, we have Total to thank”.
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French riot police on Friday fired tear gas at hundreds of climate activists trying to prevent the oil giant’s annual general meeting TotalEnergies to take place.
Activists from campaign groups including 350.org, Friends of the Earth France and Scientists in Rebellion had promised to try to prevent the holding of the GA to denounce the expansion of fossil fuels by TotalEnergies.
Protesters outside the Salle Pleyel in Paris could be heard chanting “all we want is to bring down Total” and “one, two, three degrees, we have Total to thank”, according to the AFP news agency.
It comes amid palpable frustration among climate activists over proxy voting season, with protests also taking place at British oil majors BP and Shell in recent weeks after an extraordinary run of record profits. .
Clashes erupted between protesters and police shortly before the start of the shareholders’ meeting, where investors are set to vote on a resolution calling on the company to align its climate goals with the landmark Paris agreement and to commit to absolute reductions in carbon emissions by 2030.
The burning of fossil fuels, such as oil, gas and coal, is the main driver of the climate crisis.
Police officers distribute tear gas to disperse climate activists during a demonstration outside the venue for the annual general meeting (AGM) of TotalEnergies SE in Paris, France, Friday, May 26, 2023.
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TotalEnergies has urged shareholders to vote against the resolution, which was filed by Follow This – a small Dutch activist investor with stakes in several major oil companies.
The oil major claims that the draft resolution “does not provide a credible response to the challenges of climate change and would be contrary to the interests of the Company, its shareholders and its customers”.
Follow This founder Mark van Baal said TotalEnergies had “no plan to reduce emissions this decade. Therefore, we expect long-term, climate-conscious investors to wield the only power they have as shareholders: the power of the vote”.
Record profits
At BP’s Annual General Meeting last month, support for a Follow This resolution calling for tougher emissions reduction targets by the end of the decade reached just 17%, down from 15% last year.
At Shell’s shareholder meeting earlier this week, support for a similar resolution tabled by Follow This stood at 20%, the same level as in 2022.
Big Oil posted bumper profits last year, buoyed by soaring fossil fuel prices and robust demand, following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
For its part, TotalEnergies reported net profit of $36.2 billion in 2022, doubling the results of the previous year.
Shares of the company traded slightly higher on Friday morning. The stock price is down about 6.3% since the start of the year.
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