Achi news desk-
The head of TotalEnergies has told shareholders that new oil fields must be developed to meet global demand, as the annual meetings of the French energy giant and one of its biggest shareholders were picked apart by climate activists.
Police said they detained 173 people among hundreds who gathered outside the Paris headquarters of Amundi, one of the world’s biggest investment managers and the main shareholder of TotalEnergies.
Climate activists also gathered hours before the opening of the TotalEnergies annual general meeting. Greenpeace members unveiled a huge “Wanted” banner calling its chief executive, Patrick Pouyanné, “the leader of France’s most corrupt company”.
The flag was quickly taken down by the police.
Several hundred activists belonging to Extinction Rebellion gathered outside Amundi for its general meeting.
A few dozen protesters forced their way into the Amundi tower block, spraying graffiti on the walls and smashing some windows, police said. Amundi said eight of his security staff were injured.
The campaigners say that TotalEnergies is contributing to global warming and the destruction of biodiversity through its gas and oil activities.
Pouyanne told shareholders that higher oil prices driven by insufficient fossil fuel output “would quickly become unbearable for the populations in emerging countries, but also in our developed countries”.
The demand for oil was growing in line with the global population, he said.
But Pouyanne said TotalEnergies would pursue its “balanced strategy” of fossil fuel development and low-carbon energy production.
TotalEnergies had proven that it was possible “to be a profitable company, or even the most profitable company when trying to transition” towards cleaner energy, he said.
At Friday’s meeting, nearly 80% of shareholders approved the company’s climate strategy, with more than 75% also voting to renew Pouyanne as CEO for three years.
Pouyanné, who floated the idea from the company’s listing in New York last month, told shareholders there was “no doubt” that TotalEnergies would leave 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.
French president Emmanuel Macron responded by Bloomberg that he would be “happy” with such a move: “Not at all and I would be very surprised.”
