Reacting to the Nanterre Commercial Court’s ruling issued Thursday that the refusal was legitimate, Ethos said in a statement, “We will continue to defend the rights of shareholders in the future, starting with the right to file a resolution at the AGM of a company of which they are co-owners, in particular on key issues such as governance”.
Following the court defeat, Ethos recommended that shareholders vote against the reelection of all board members seeking new terms and against TotalEnergies’ report on its emission reduction progress.
However the meeting resulted in three board reappointments. Besides Pouyanné, Glenn Hubbard and Jacques Aschenbroich also won their reappointment votes. Meanwhile Keolis Group chair Marie-Ange Debon has been voted as a new member. Their terms all last three years.
Eighty percent of stockholders also approved the company’s report on its progress toward near-term climate goals, according to the statement.
TotalEnergies said in the climate progress report released March 20 that last year it had cut its Scope 1 and 2 emissions—emissions from company activities and input energy—by 34 percent compared to 2015. The intensity of upstream oil and gas emissions in the Scope 1 and 2 categories fell to 18 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent per barrel of oil equivalent on an equity basis. Methane emissions from operated facilities dropped 47 percent against 2020 according to the report.
Last week three non-governmental organizations and climate survivors sued TotalEnergies’ board of directors and main shareholders before a Paris court, saying their decisions led to climate-induced human and environmental tolls.
The case for criminal liability was filed by France-based Bloom and Santé Planétaire, Mexico-based Nuestro Futuro and eight survivors of climate-driven natural disasters from Australia, Belgium, France, Greece, Pakistan, the Philippines and Zimbabwe, according to a Bloom statement last Tuesday.
“[T]his legal action could set a precedent in the history of climate litigation as it opens the way to holding fossil fuel producers and shareholders responsible before criminal courts for the chaos caused by climate change”, Bloom said.
“TotalEnergies, the world’s sixth biggest carbon major, its board of directors and its main shareholders are being sued for deliberately endangering the lives of others, involuntary manslaughter, neglecting to address a disaster, and damaging biodiversity.
“Each offense is punishable by at least one year of imprisonment and a fine”.
The plaintiffs have given the prosecutor the discretion to determine the individuals to bring to trial. However, they have named as definite defendants Pouyanne and investors BlackRock Inc. and Norway’s central bank, “who voted in favor of climate strategies incompatible with limiting global warming to 2°C and against resolutions aiming at aligning the Group’s climate strategy with the Paris Agreement”.
TotalEnergies and BlackRock have not responded to requests for comment emailed by Rigzone. Norges Bank declined to comment.
TotalEnergies closed higher in Paris and New York trading on Friday.
