TOTALENERGIES: NEW CLIMATE RESOLUTION SUBMITTED TO THE GM BY SHAREHOLDERS
by Benjamin Mallett
PARIS (Reuters) – A group of minority shareholders of TotalEnergies will present a resolution at a general meeting at the end of May asking the company to detail its efforts to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, according to the text of the resolution. obtained by Reuters.
The group carrying this resolution is made up of 12 French shareholders coordinated by Meeschaert AM, including OFI AM and La Financière de l’Échiquier and representing approximately 0.8% of the capital, we learned from a source familiar with of the process. In their text, they ask TotalEnergies in particular to provide details on the reduction in its emissions for all of its activities, in the short (3 to 5 years) and medium term (8 to 10 years), as well as on the evolution of its energy mix and its “target production volumes” at these deadlines.
They also propose that the group detail its short and medium-term investment plan, specifying its distribution “by economic activity and by orientation between maintenance and development of assets”, as well as “the reference scenario used to define the climate objectives of society and its articulation with the most recent available scientific knowledge”.
Meeschaert AM, La Financière de l’Échiquier and OFI AM did not immediately comment on this information.
The resolution of the French investors comes on top of another, carried by Dutch shareholders, more generally asking TotalEnergies to set itself objectives in line with the Paris Agreement on the climate, which requires actions in order to limit the increase temperature to 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level.
In the explanatory memorandum to their proposal, the French shareholders welcome “real progress (by TotalEnergies) in terms of transparency and climate action but still insufficient to allow investors to assess alignment with a trajectory 1.5°C”.
“HAVE ACCESS TO COMPLETE AND QUALITY INFORMATION”
“In order to assess and anticipate the climate risks linked to the zero carbon transition and the physical impacts of climate change, it is essential for investors to have access to complete and quality information on the climate strategy of companies, that could impact the future value of their investments,” they add.
TotalEnergies, which is developing at a sustained pace in renewable energies and electricity, announced on March 24 new targets for reducing emissions from petroleum products sold to its customers by 2030, presented in a report that it will submit to an advisory vote of its shareholders at its next general meeting on May 25.
The group confirmed Thursday that it would submit this report at its GA. “This ‘say on climate’ type approach is innovative and a real progress within the CAC 40”, argued a spokesperson. Like its competitors, TotalEnergies is under increasing pressure from certain investors in the fight against climate change. Last year, its general assembly nevertheless validated nearly 92% of its strategy of transition to carbon neutrality.
(Report Benjamin Mallet, edited by Sophie Louet)