This Friday, May 24, the environmental organization deployed a huge wanted notice on a facade in the La Défense business district to target “the director of the most polluting French company” while Extinction Rebellion activists blocked the headquarters of Amundi, one of the shareholders of TotalEnergies. 103 people were arrested.
It was Greenpeace which got the ball rolling to heckle TotalEnergies before its annual general meeting. On the facade of a shopping center in La Défense, activists posted a giant wanted poster this Friday, May 24 in the morning. On the poster, a “Wanted” (“wanted” in English) style Far West is spread in black letters above the face of the CEO of TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanné. “Civil society is looking for the leader of the most polluting French company which makes billions to the detriment of the planet and people”we can read there.
Greenpeace activists, accustomed to heavy-handed actions, placed the banner on the building as a reminder. “If you have information, above all, do not contact the government, it is its main accomplice”, the text continues. The tone is set. Because this Friday, May 24, the oil major, the fourth in the world and the largest French company by profit, is holding its general meeting, this annual high mass now automatically disrupted by climate activists.
“We point to the government as complicit because it has no desire to constrain them”
The amount of the premium? 20 billion euros, as a reminder of the group’s record financial results in 2023, or 20.5 billion euros in net profit. “We denounce the climate-killing strategy of TotalEnergies, oriented towards fossil fuels to amass more profits, reacts to Libé Edina Ifticene, fossil fuels campaign manager at Greenpeace France. This poster designates the CEO because he embodies and assumes this strategy and we point out the government as complicit because it has no desire to constrain them.
This year, for the first time in two decades, the AGM is taking place at home, in the 48-story Coupole tower, in the Nanterre business district. All day long, more than 80 environmental, anti-capitalist, feminist and human rights groups planned to organize actions in the capital to put pressure on the multinational. From 2 p.m., TotalEnergies shareholders will have to decide on the group’s climate strategy – some investors are calling for a more ambitious energy transition – and reappoint, or not, the CEO.
“Invest in people rather than oil”
In the 15th arrondissement of Paris, a white van parks in front of the premises of Amundi, one of the first shareholders of TotalEnergies. Speakers and equipment were quickly brought out by the activists, who in a few minutes blocked the adjacent road with boxes and installed banners on the square. In the tower, we can see through the window employees watching the installation, stunned.
On the other side of the building, the atmosphere is festive. The scientists in rebellion are in their usual white coats, some activists spray paint the Extinction Rebellion logo and slogans like “total liquidation”. Still others unfurl banners. You can read there “Invest in people not oil”to understand “Invest in people rather than oil”or “Invest in biodiversity, not neo colonialist practices” (“Invest in biodiversity rather than neo-colonial practices”). Activists try to enter the tower, applauded by the rest of the group. They are quickly welcomed by the security guards, water lances in hand. “Let’s save water”, an activist shouts at them. Not particularly bothered by the downpours, the protesters continued to force their way under the drums. Soon, in a more tense atmosphere, they extract the pipe from the hands of the security guards and wrap it around poles to render it unusable. In the crush, a glass door is torn off and another broken.
“The goal was to mobilize against Total, but the police force was far too heavy at La Défense”explains Irénée Frérot, research physicist at the CNRS and member of Scientifiques en Rebellion. “Here, we denounce those who finance Total, because the scientific consensus is very clear: there are enough existing fossil sites to exceed the objectives of the Paris agreement [dont le plus ambitieux vise à limiter le réchauffement climatique à 1,5 °C, ndlr].” We must no longer open any fossil fuel extraction fields, argues the researcher, while TotalEnergies has announced that it will increase its gas production by a third by 2030. “They tell us that gas is a transition energy, but it’s false, it’s greenwashing”argues Irénée Frérot.
The demonstrators are joined by personalities such as the environmentalist MP Sandrine Rousseau, the head of the Insoumis list in the European elections Manon Aubry, and Claire Nouvian, director of the NGO Bloom. Finally, the party ended when the police arrived on site, rounded up the several hundred activists and arrested 103 of them, according to the police headquarters. This indicates to Release that ten building security officers were injured, 9 of whom were taken to hospital.
Update : at 11:48 a.m.; 2:44 p.m.; 5:30 p.m. then 6:01 p.m. with additional reporting elements.
