Protesters outside the Salle Pleyel venue in Paris could be heard chanting “all we want is to knock down Total” and “one, two, three degrees, we have Total to thank.”
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French riot police on Friday fired tear gas at hundreds of climate activists trying to prevent the annual general meeting of oil giant TotalEnergies from taking place.
Clashes broke out between protesters and the police shortly before the start of the shareholder meeting, where investors are poised to vote on a resolution calling on the company to align its climate targets with the landmark Paris Agreement and commit to absolute carbon emission cuts by 2030.
TotalEnergies has urged shareholders to vote against the resolution, which was tabled by Follow This — a small Dutch activist investor with stakes in several Big Oil companies.
Activists from campaign groups including 350.org, Friends of the Earth France and Scientists in Rebellion had pledged to try to stop the AGM from taking place to denounce TotalEnergies’ fossil fuel expansion.
Protesters outside the Salle Pleyel venue in Paris could be heard chanting “all we want is to knock down Total” and “one, two, three degrees, we have Total to thank,” according to the AFP news agency.
It comes amid a sense of palpable frustration among climate activists during the proxy voting season, with demonstrations also taking place at British oil majors BP and Shell in recent weeks.
Shares of TotalEnergies traded slightly higher on Friday morning. The stock price is down roughly 6.3% year-to-date.
