Total has begun to invest more in solar and wind power, but it is under pressure to do more as climate issues rise closer to the top of investors’ agendas.
The North African country’s new president has put shale gas back on the agenda, an unpopular, short-sighted move that has added to the complaints of a restive population whose protests brought about dramatic regime change last year. Rachida El Azzouzi reports.
French oil group Total is responsible for 1% of the world’s CO2 emissions and failing to respect its so-called ‘corporate duty of vigilance’ say activists.
French oil and gas giant Total has been handed a 500,000-euro fine after it was found guilty of bribing officials in Iran to gain access to a gas field in the country in a deal dating back to 1997.
This Saturday December 1st the so-called 'gilets jaunes' or yellow hi-vis vest protesters will take to the streets of central Paris for the third weekend in a row. This time other groups – unions, anti-racist movements and student groups – are also planning demonstrations in the capital. But while they might all be demonstrating at the same time, these different components of the current social movement sweeping across France are not all on the same wavelength when it comes to their aims and objectives. Mathilde Goanec, Dan Israel and Faïza Zerouala report.
Under threat of US sanctions Total has officially halted its multi-billion-dollar investments into a gas production project in Iran, while carmakers PSA, Renault and Daimler are also among those to suspend or drop plans to invest in the country, along with Deutsche Bahn and Deutsche Telekom.
A committee of the UN's International Maritime Organization is discussing ways to reduce the sulphur content in marine fuels, a pollutant said to be responsible for up to 50,000 deaths a year in Europe alone. But France's representative on the body is an employee of French oil firm Total - which produces those very same marine fuels. As Jade Lindgaard reports, there is embarrassment in Paris over this apparently flagrant conflict of interest.
The ink on the Iran nuclear deal is barely dry and no one is even yet sure if it will hold. But already France has joined other countries in the hunt for lucrative business deals with the oil-rich state and its market of 80 million inhabitants. But as René Backmann reports, there are potential pitfalls to overcome before French firms can hit the Iranian jackpot.
