The government calls on TotalEnergies to "go faster" on renewables

French Energy Transition Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher on Friday called on the TotalEnergies group to go "faster" on the development of renewable energies, while environmental activists try to prevent the holding of the general meeting of its shareholders in Paris. "Total is investing in renewable energies, but the challenge is to go faster, stronger and above all faster," said the minister, invited by Franceinfo radio, calling on the energy company to "put the package" on renewables.

Oil and gas companies "must reinvent themselves, they must get out of fossil fuels," said the minister, referring in particular to the IPCC reports: "they will have no future, no future – and I told Patrick Pouyanné for Total – if they are not able to trace these trajectories of exit from fossil fuels and decarbonization".

'Disorganized expression'

While scuffles took place between police and climate demonstrators, near the Parisian room where the general assembly of the French group is to be held, the minister was critical of the demonstrations "not announced", which "create disorder to public order". However, it distinguished, on the substance, "the question raised by these actions and which is a very good question".

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From the moment the demonstration is not announced, we are in a disorganized expression, even though activists have raised the debate within the general assembly, "said Ms. Pannier-Runacher, referring to the consultative resolution emanating from the activist shareholder organization Follow This, which mainly attacks indirect CO2 emissions.

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You have a vote that will take place on Total's climate policy and it is in this context that the debate can take place and that indeed we can put pressure on Total, "added the minister. Asked about a halt to TotalEnergies' investments in oil, she said that "these are trajectories that are built over time", recalling that the France had stopped the exploitation of hydrocarbons on its soil.

Regarding the controversial Eacop heated oil pipeline project developed by TotalEnergies in Uganda, the minister called for "avoiding giving lessons", especially in relation to the country, stressing that the African countries she meets, especially in the context of climate conferences, express the "need for means of development" and refer European countries to their balance sheet in terms of emissions, "less good" than theirs.