Investors join activists to press TotalEnergies on climate targets

A group of investors with $1.1 trillion in assets under management has joined climate activist group Follow This in asking TotalEnergies shareholders to push for more ambitious targets on emissions cuts.

The resolution filed for the company's May 26 annual general meeting follows others that Follow This has filed for coming shareholder meetings at rival energy majors BP, Chevron, Exxon Mobil and Shell.

"To achieve the goal of (the) Paris (climate deal), the world has to almost halve emissions by 2030, but TotalEnergies has no plan to drive down emissions this decade," Follow This founder Mark van Baal said.

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"These climate resolutions at Big Oil will show which investors are serious about resolving the climate crisis and which prefer to just talk about it."

The investor group co-filing the latest resolution represents 1.5 per cent of TotalEnergies' shares.

Follow This wants the companies to commit to absolute emissions cuts by 2030, rather than intensity-based targets, including Scope 3 emissions from the combustion of the fuels they sell.

Measuring emissions by intensity means a company can technically increase its fossil fuel output and overall emissions while using offsets or adding renewable energy or biofuels to its product mix.

TotalEnergies has said its emissions will not register a big reduction by 2030 in absolute terms.

Scientists say the world needs to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 43 per cent from 2019 levels by 2030 to have any hope of meeting the Paris Agreement goal of keeping warming below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

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BP and Shell have recommended shareholders vote against the Follow This resolutions.

In 2020, the last time TotalEnergies shareholders voted on a Follow This resolution, the activist received 17 per cent of the votes.

TotalEnergies' climate strategy was approved by about 90 per cent of shareholder votes in 2021 and 2022.

Follow This resolutions at other oil majors last year received between 15 per cent and 33 per cent of the votes.