Dividends first, climate second

Reclaim Finance criticizes Total's climate plan and the shareholders who supported it, arguing that the plan ignores IEA guidelines by continuing investment in new oil and gas projects. The author highlights a contradiction where investors, including AXA and BNP Paribas, support the plan despite their own carbon neutrality commitments, suggesting that short-term dividends are prioritized over the energy transition.

• Total's climate plan is deemed incompatible with the 1.5°C warming limit and the International Energy Agency (IEA) net-zero scenario, which requires no further investment in new oil, gas, and coal supply.
• The plan includes continued expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure, specifically the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), the Tilenga oil project in East Africa, gas projects in the Arctic, and an LNG terminal in Papua New Guinea.
• Despite rebranding as TotalEnergies, the company's investment and production targets remain heavily fossil-fuel dependent, with 80% of investment spending directed to fossil fuels by 2030 and renewables representing only 4% of energy production by 2050.
• A majority of shareholders (82%) voted in favor of the climate plan, which the author attributes to a preference for short-term dividends over the energy transition, a sentiment echoed by CEO Patrick Pouyanné.
• Several major investors, including AXA, BNP Paribas, and Amundi, are criticized for voting in support of the plan despite their public commitments to carbon neutrality and the IEA scenario.

APA

Pinson, L. (2021). Dividends first, climate second. Reclaim Finance. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2021/06/10/dividends-first-climate-second/

Chicago

Pinson, Lucie. Dividends first, climate second. Reclaim Finance, 2021. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2021/06/10/dividends-first-climate-second/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Pinson |first1=Lucie |title=Dividends first, climate second |publisher=Reclaim Finance |date=10 June 2021 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2021/06/10/dividends-first-climate-second/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{pinson2021dividends, author = {Pinson, Lucie}, title = {{Dividends first, climate second}}, publisher = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2021}, month = jun, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2021/06/10/dividends-first-climate-second/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }