Our consortium of co-filers consists of institutional investors and asset managers from France, Belgium, The Netherlands, the UK, and the US. It includes, among others, Achmea IM, a.s.r. AM, Degroof Petercam AM, Edmond de Rothschild AM, La Banque Postale AM & Tocqueville Finance, La Financière de l'Echiquier, Mandarine Gestion, Man Group, Messieurs Hottinguer & Cie Gestion Privée, MN, Ofi Invest AM, PGGM Investments, Sanso IS, and Sycomore AM.

 

As institutional investors, we want to safeguard long-term returns for our beneficiaries. Therefore, we encourage portfolio companies to decarbonize and contribute to the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. Oil majors like TotalEnergies have the scale, capital, and knowledge to help the world transition from fossil fuels to low-carbon energy sources. Unfortunately, we believe that TotalEnergies has not made sufficient progress in supporting this transition.

 

'Based on its plans to ramp up gas production, we expect TotalEnergies to become the largest European hydrocarbon producer by 2030. This is not reconcilable with a Paris-aligned emission reduction pathway,” says Bertille Knuckey, Fund Manager at Sycomore AM, 'Investors need to vote to voice their opinion on this strategy.'

 

Ahead of its 2022 AGM, TotalEnergies’ board of directors refused to put a similar but binding shareholder resolution to a vote. Given this refusal, we decided to file a consultative resolution this year. While a consultative resolution is non-binding, it allows investors to send a clear signal to the company by expressing their view on its climate transition targets.

 

'Although the world has to almost halve emissions by 2030 to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, TotalEnergies refuses to significantly drive down scope 3 emissions this decade,' says Colin Tissen, Advisor Responsible Investment at PGGM Investments, 'We encourage the company to fully embrace its transition towards a low-carbon energy provider, helping its customers reduce their carbon footprint.'