Patrick Pouyanné in Rabat, Morocco, October 28, 2024. (POOL / LUDOVIC MARIN)
During his mandate, Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement, and promised to do so again if he is elected, after the cancellation of this decision by his successor Joe Biden.
For a “strict” EPA, rather than the “Wild West”. In an interview with
Financial Times,
the boss of TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanné, urged Donald Trump to
not call into question the United States' commitments on the climate,
in the event of a victory for the Republican camp in the American presidential election, fearing a deleterious effect on the image of the oil industry. “I prefer to have
good regulations
in the United States, for example in the case of methane”, declared the boss of the oil and gas giant, expressing his preference for
a “strict” EPA (American Environmental Protection Agency),
rather than a regulatory environment that resembles “the Wild West”.
During his mandate, the Republican president, who hopes to be elected on Tuesday November 5 and succeed Democrat Joe Biden, had
withdrew the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement,
and promised to do it again if he is elected, after the cancellation of this decision by his successor. Under this agreement, the United States
committed to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions by half by 2030,
compared to 2005. For Patrick Pouyanné, break these commitments and excessively deregulate
“will not help the oil industry”,
but, on the contrary, will “demonize” it, making the dialogue more complicated between the sector and public opinion.
TotalEnergies decided in January 2021 to
withdraw from the powerful American Petroleum Institute (API),
which brings together American industrialists from the hydrocarbon sector, due to differences on the climate issue. The group criticized him for “his support for the relaxation of American regulations on methane emissions”, his membership in a pressure group opposed to support for electric vehicles or even positions far from his own on the principle of carbon pricing.
