Yannick Jadot and Roger Karoutchi did not hide their differences of point of view throughout the hearings of the commission of inquiry into the links between the oil giant TotalEnergies and the action of the French State. On Wednesday June 19, the rapporteur and the president of this commission, one senator (Les Ecologistes) from Paris and the other senator (Les Républicains) from Hauts-de-Seine, presented together their main conclusions, formulated in a “compromise report”.
Adopted by a large majority, this 350-page document formulates thirty-three recommendations, a minority of which directly targets the French hydrocarbon champion. “The commission of inquiry did not agree on everything but decided to find a path of passage acceptable to all groupsgreeted Mr. Karouchi. We considered that recalling the requirements of the transition and the weaknesses of the administrative and political system was an absolute necessity, but refused to make TotalEnergies the sole culprit. »
“Not aligned with the Paris climate agreement”
In four months, the senators heard around forty interlocutors, including the main executives and the CEO of TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanné, ministers and former ministers, bank directors, other large companies or institutions, but also scientists or representatives of NGOs.
“The company TotalEnergies is not aligned with the Paris climate agreement, in particular because it plans to increase its oil and gas production” by 2028, Yannick Jadot first recalled, based on the comments of those interviewed. The report therefore calls on the State to “incentivize more strongly” the group to “accelerate as much as possible” its investments in renewable energies, without proposing any restrictive measure.
The senators also recommend that the French state acquire a “specific share” within the company. This proposal follows in particular the hypothesis, launched by Patrick Pouyanné a few days before his hearing in the Senate at the end of April, of a possible move of the main listing of the group from Paris to New York, while 40% of its shareholders are North American .
“This return of the State to the governance of TotalEnergies would allow it to have a right of oversight, and possibly a right of veto over certain decisions”, such as the movement of the main listing or the relocation of the company, explains the environmentalist rapporteur. Holding a specific share allows, for example, to appoint a representative of the State without voting rights within the board of directors, or to oppose transfers of assets.
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