About 30 students disrupted a one-day climate roundtable organized by the business school to protest against the invitation of representatives of oil companies.
A group of students claiming to be from an “anti-greenwashing committee of HEC” disrupted on Tuesday the start of a “climate day” organized by the famous Parisian campus, to which representatives of oil and gas companies were invited. Shell and TotalEnergies to denounce their “climaticide” activities, according to a video posted on Youtube.
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To the cries of “And, one and two and three degrees, for Patrick Pouyanné”, the CEO of TotalEnergies, the group took over the podium of an amphitheater where a round table was held for this “Climate day” organized by the Grande Ecole HEC Paris on its Jouy-en-Josas campus (Yvelines), on the theme of energy transition. Carole Le Gall, vice-president of sustainability and climate at TotalEnergies, was among the speakers at this round table.
“Climatic companies are no longer welcome at HEC Paris”
In a 7-minute video, the group in turn distributes the bad points to Shell, TotalEnergies, the Societe Generale bank – accused of contributing to the financing of fossil projects, and HEC Paris, in a parody of a film festival.
“We, HEC students, demonstrated with joy and conviction our disagreement with their presence by organizing the first greenwashing festival in Jouy-en-Josas”explained the “anti-greenwashing committee of HEC” in its press release, assuring that “climaticide companies are no longer welcome at HEC Paris”. “Our country’s greatest scientists have said it: any new fossil project would irreparably compromise our chances of staying below 1.5°C” of global warming, underline the students in their press release.
The group notably unfurled a banner with the message “Stop Eacop”, named after the controversial oil mega-project that TotalEnergies is developing in Uganda and Tanzania. “Thirty” of these students, took part in the action, one of them, Augustin de la Brosse, told AFP. “To explain to us how to save the planet, by inviting Shell, TotalEnergies, and Société Générale, it must be said that we had to dare”notably launched the student in M2 in front of an audience of several dozen people.
The giants of the oil and gas sector are under increasing pressure from certain shareholders and environmental associations to stop any new hydrocarbon projects, which are polluting and harmful to the climate. Like Shell on Tuesday, TotalEnergies is preparing to experience in turn an eventful annual general meeting on Friday, targeted by calls from several NGOs to block the event bringing together the shareholders of the French energy group. The consumption of oil, coal and gas is the main cause of global warming caused by human activities.