The government seems, at least on the surface, to understand the approach. Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said the environmental activists who disrupted Total's general assembly on Friday morning were "in their role to alert and say that we must accelerate".
"Everyone must mobilize and accelerate" to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at a rate doubled by 2030, insisted the head of government on the sidelines of a trip to Côte d'Or, this Friday.
"This is also what the government is carrying: we must all accelerate on the ecological transition," she insisted, while acknowledging the oil giant for having "engaged its transition to renewable energies".
"Go faster, stronger"
The Minister of Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, had already called this Friday morning the group of Patrick Pouyanné to "go faster, stronger" by putting "the package" on renewable energies.
At dawn, dozens of activists - who accuse the company of greenwashing - tried to enter the stretch of street in front of the Salle Pleyel, in the beautiful Parisian neighborhoods, where the group's AGM is held, but the police dislodged them.
VIDEO. AGM of TotalEnergies: clashes in Paris between activists and police
The demonstrators nevertheless remained nearby, about a hundred on each side of the street segment, blocked by police and gendarmerie trucks. Four people were arrested at this stage, according to police.
"The climate is at the heart of our concern," said the CEO of TotalEnergies to shareholders in the morning, referring to the "credibility of the transition plan" of his group, one of the five major global majors with BP, Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron. The climate strategy was approved by its shareholders by 88.76% at Friday's AGM.
