Patrick Pouyanné reappointed as head of TotalEnergies for a period of three years

Shareholders also voted in favor of resolutions relating to the remuneration of the CEO.

The CEO of TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanné, saw his mandate extended by three years. Meeting at a general meeting on Friday May 24, the shareholders of the French energy group voted 75.73% in favor of the renewal, close to the score of three years ago. Shareholders also voted more than 90% in favor of resolutions relating to the compensation of the Chairman and CEO in 2023 and during his next term.

The man who has run the largest French company by turnover for ten years promised Friday to keep “the cap”. On the climate, Patrick Pouyanné, 60, boasts of leading “the oil group most involved in the energy transition”, which the think tank Carbon Tracker disputes for the benefit of the Italian company Eni.

“TotalEnergies demonstrates every day that it is possible, once again, to be a profitable company, even the most profitable, while transforming” and “investing in the energies of tomorrow”, assures Patrick Pouyanné. While recalling that he was “necessary” to put into production “new fields” oil companies to meet global demand, contrary to the International Energy Agency which recommends the abandonment of any new oil and gas projects.

Unlike last year, environmental activists did not succeed in disrupting the general assembly, which did not take place in Paris, but at the headquarters in La Défense. Several Greenpeace activists displayed a gigantic “Wanted” banner with the face of Patrick Pouyanné on a nearby building, before the police took it down.

The tension was in fact concentrated at another general meeting, in Paris, that of the French asset manager Amundi, one of the first shareholders of TotalEnergies, where hundreds of Extinction Rebellion activists gathered chanting “Amundi accomplice”. Several dozen people entered the premises by force, before leaving.