2023-05-26 05:55:44
The general meeting (GM) of TotalEnergies, Friday, May 26, promises to be eventful. From dawn, even before its opening, scuffles broke out between demonstrators for the climate and the police, while shareholders who disagree with the climate policy of the French group specializing in hydrocarbons are also present.
Dozens of activists tried to enter the stretch of street passing in front of the Salle Pleyel, where the general assembly of the group is to be held, in the beautiful districts of Paris. Some of them, who had sat in front of the entrance, were dislodged by the police, giving rise to scuffles. The police also used tear gas canisters.
After three warnings in less than a minute by loudspeaker, the police fired tear gas into the middle of a group of activists who had been seated on the ground. A coalition of NGOs had called for the meeting to be blocked and dozens of activists occupied the entrances to rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré, singing in particular “what we want is to overthrow Total” et “one, two and three degrees, it’s Total that we have to thank”.
“We do not understand this violence”
“As soon as we arrived at 6 a.m., there was enormous police repression, we were gassed, we were walked on… Yet we are non-violent”denounces Steven Sasha Arfeuille, spokesperson for Alternatiba, to the Monde. The CRS, already present in the street before the arrival of the activists, fired two tear gas canisters at the activists, “one of which bounced off an activist’s cap and burned another’s leg”, says Hélène Martinelli, activist at Alternatiba Paris. She herself was pushed violently to the ground, slightly injuring her knees.
“We do not understand this violence by the police once morest peace activists to defend a private company that destroys the environment and flouts human rights”abounds Juliette Renaud, campaign manager for Friends of the Earth, citing the mega oil pipeline project Eacop in Uganda and Tanzania which has displaced more than 100,000 people, who have not yet all been compensated.
The situation remained tense around 8 a.m., with security forces intermittently trying to dislodge the militants. “We can no longer let companies destroy living things with impunity. It is legitimate to come and demonstrate in a non-violent way. The practices of the police who protect the first polluting company in France are dramatic. Legality is on our side. It is also a protection of the law”assures Marie Toussaint, ecologist MEP who came to support the action.
The authorities expect between 200 and 400 activists
The meeting comes at the end of a stormy GA season, where activists have stepped up actions once morest large groups, such as competitors Shell and BP or Barclays bank, accused of financing the expansion of hydrocarbon projects . All once morest a backdrop of staggering profits: together, the majors BP, Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron and TotalEnergies posted more than 40 billion dollars in profits this quarter, following a grandiose year 2022.
A sign of the expected tensions, TotalEnergies will prohibit shareholders and journalists from using their mobile phones, and will force them to leave certain personal effects at the entrance. Above all, the group wants to avoid the chaotic scenario of last year, when NGO activists prevented shareholders from attending the GA.
The authorities expect the presence of 200 to 400 activists, who “absolutely want to prevent the holding of the GA”according to a police source. “Total’s AGM will not take place”immediately warned at the end of April in a forum the signatories 350.org, Alternatiba, Friends of the Earth, ANV-COP21, Attac, Greenpeace, Scientists in Rebellion and XR. “This general meeting plans to perpetuate the oil company’s strategy: ever more fossil projects and an unfair distribution of superprofits which fuels climate and social injustice”they denounce.
Among the hot topics, the nearly 1.5 million individual shareholders, present or online, are being called to vote on an advisory resolution from the activist shareholder organization Follow This, which primarily tackles indirect CO2. In other words, those related to the use of oil by its customers in cars or for heating (scope 3 in carbon accounting), the equivalent of 85% of its carbon footprint.
Conflict over two climate resolutions
The organization asks Total to align its reduction targets with the 2015 Paris agreement, in order to limit global warming to +1.5°C compared to the pre-industrial era. Among this coalition of 17 investors who hold nearly 1.5% of TotalEnergies are La banque PostaleAM, Edmond de Rotschild AM, La Financière de l’Echiquier.
The World Buying Guides
Reusable water bottles
The best water bottles to replace disposable bottles
Lire
The group recommends voting once morest, considering the resolution “contrary to the interests” the total energies, “of its shareholders and customers”. The major will nevertheless promote its efforts for the climate and calls on its shareholders to “vote in favour” of its own climate resolution. This official strategy focuses above all on its direct emissions, resulting from its operations and those related to the energy it consumes (so-called « scope 1 et 2 »).
Even if the group does not plan to drastically reduce its direct emissions during the decade, it intends to devote a third of its investments to low-carbon energies and reach 100 GW of renewable electricity capacity by 2030. “It is the income from hydrocarbons that allows us to invest massively and develop renewables”argued the CEO, Patrick Pouyanné, on Wednesday in an interview with the magazine Challenges.
The group is present in numerous liquefied natural gas and oil projects in the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Papua and Uganda. « On [n’]didn’t know how to anticipate”conceded Mr. Pouyanné to Challenges regarding this controversy, which adds to many others for the group, also criticized for its record profit of 20.5 billion dollars (19.12 billion euros) in 2022, its taxes in France or the CEO salary. A 10% increase in his compensation for 2023 is also on the agenda of the general meeting.
1685084853
#scuffles #tear #gas #general #meeting
