Police said that they detained 173 people among hundreds who gathered outside the Paris headquarters of Amundi, one of the world’s biggest investment managers and a major TotalEnergies shareholder.
According to reports, climate activists also gathered hours before the TotalEnergies annual general meeting opened. Greenpeace members unfurled a huge “Wanted” banner calling its chief executive, Patrick Pouyanné, “the leader of France’s most polluting company”.
The banner was quickly taken down by police.
Several hundred activists belonging to Extinction Rebellion gathered outside Amundi for its general meeting. A few dozen protesters forced their way into Amundi’s tower block, daubing graffiti on the walls and smashing some windows, police said. Amundi said eight of its security staff were injured.
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The activists were quoted as saying 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 prompted by insufficient fossil fuel output “would quickly become unbearable for the populations in emerging countries, but also in our developed countries”.
Demand for oil was growing in line with the global population, he said. But Pouyanne said TotalEnergies would pursue its “balanced strategy” of developing both fossil fuel and low-carbon energy production.
TotalEnergies had proved it was possible “to be a profitable, or even the most profitable, company while pursuing a transformation” toward 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.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
