Source: AFP
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The boss of TotalEnergies told shareholders on Friday that the French energy giant needed to develop new oil fields to meet global demand as their AGM was boycotted by climate activists.
Patrick Pouillon warned that higher oil prices caused by insufficient fossil fuel production “will quickly become unsustainable for populations in emerging countries, but also in our developed countries.”
Demand for oil was growing in line with the world’s population, he said.
But Pouyanne also promised that TotalEnergies would pursue its “balanced strategy” of developing both fossil fuels and low-carbon power generation.
TotalEnergies had demonstrated that it was possible “to be a profitable, or even the most profitable, company pursuing a transformation” to cleaner energy, he said.
Climate activists had gathered hours before the start of the general assembly, with Greenpeace members unfurling a “Wanted” banner depicting Pouillon and calling him “the leader of France’s most polluting company”.
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The banner was quickly taken down by the police.
Meanwhile, several hundred activists belonging to the group Extinction Rebellion gathered near the Paris offices of Amundi, a French asset manager and among TotalEnergies’ largest shareholders.
A few dozen of them forced their way into Amundi’s offices and several were arrested.
Source: AFP
Climate activists say TotalEnergies is contributing to global warming, biodiversity destruction and human rights abuses through its gas and oil operations.
At Friday’s meeting, nearly 80 percent of shareholders approved their company’s climate strategy, while more than 75 percent also voted to renew Pouyanne as CEO for three years.
Pouillon, who last month floated the idea of a New York listing for his company, told the shareholder meeting that there was actually “no question” of TotalEnergies pulling out of France.
He said in April there was a “case” to move from Paris’s CAC 40 index to New York in search of higher valuations and bigger markets.
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![](https://images.yen.com.gh/images/1107690617cf1b27.jpg?impolicy=cropped-image&imwidth=256)
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French President Emmanuel Macron, asked by Bloomberg if he would be “happy” with such a move, replied: “Not at all and I would be very surprised” if it happened.
Source: AFP