A large group of TotalEnergies shareholders urged the French oil and gas company to speed up efforts to switch to clean energy at an annual meeting marked by protests and clashes between police and climate activists.
More than 30% of investors backed a resolution submitted by Dutch activist shareholder Follow This calling on Total to cut emissions faster by 2030.
The rebuke – significant by the common standards of annual shareholder meetings – echoes other calls by rivals, including Shell, to speed up transition plans. A similar activism by Total in 2020 was supported by 17% of investors.
Shareholder meetings of major oil companies have become an arena for growing climate protests both on and off the premises.
A tense meeting at Total in central Paris on Friday saw dozens of climate activists try to block the entrance but were dispersed by police using pepper spray and tear gas.
A small group of protesters later gathered outside the venue in the presence of a heavy police presence. They chanted slogans against Total’s oil pipeline projects in Uganda and Tanzania and waved placards targeting the group and the banks that financed some of the projects.
Total Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanné has lashed out at the “temper-tempered” accusations of greenwashing the company as he defends the company’s investments in wind and solar power while placing a greater focus on shifting oil Natural gas as a transition fuel.
“We believe in the credibility of our climate transition plan,” Pouyanné said. He added that if Total suddenly sold oil assets, they would be bought by less climate-conscious competitors, which would not be in the interest of shareholders or the planet.
Follow This urges Total to do more to reduce emissions by 2030, especially so-called Scope 3, which covers the carbon emissions produced by products over their entire life cycle. It suggested the company should terminate new oil and gas projects first.
Pouyanné slammed Scope 3, saying there are limits to what companies themselves can do to influence customer demand. “Do you want us to be responsible for the demand for air transport?” he said.
Like many of its peers, Total has been shifting more of its budget toward clean energy. It will spend $5 billion on renewable energy assets this year, up from $4 billion, although most of its $16 billion to $18 billion investment is in other areas, including oil.
Some investors praised Total for the turnaround but said the momentum should continue at a faster pace than the company has indicated so far.
“The solution revolves around the rapid expansion of affordable and reliable clean energy,” says Lloyd McAllister, head of sustainable investing at Carmignac. Asset managers vote against Total’s climate targets on the grounds they are not clear enough and not ambitious enough, and against Follow This resolution, saying it was too prescriptive and could lead to unintended consequences.
Pouyanné, who complained about the valuation gap affecting the company because it is listed in Europe rather than the U.S., said on Friday that U.S. shareholders make up about 46 percent of its institutional investors, up from a third four or five years ago. However, the Frenchman said moving Total’s listing to the US was not an option, partly for political reasons.
ExxonMobil and Chevron are scheduled to hold shareholder meetings next week.