Oil and gas giant Total will be rebranded as TotalEnergies as it shifts some of its focus towards renewable energy sources.
Shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favour of the move and approved the firm’s environmental goals. “We want to become a sort of green energy major,” said chief executive Patrick Pouyanné.
Big energy firms are coming under increasing pressure to adjust to a lower-carbon world.
Last week, a small hedge fund investor succeeded in ousting two board members at Exxon in the US, in a bid to alter the firm’s direction on climate change.
And a court in the Netherlands ordered Royal Dutch Shell to cut its emissions more quickly than the Anglo-Dutch oil firm had planned.
Total, the world’s fourth-largest privately-owned oil and gas producer, is aiming to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, in part by investing in more solar and wind power projects. While several small investors opposed the company’s plans at the annual general meeting, arguing they did not go far enough, the resolution was passed with more than 90 percent of the vote. European energy firms have moved more quickly than their US counterparts to begin the transition away from fossil fuels, said Mike Coffin, senior analyst in oil and gas at financial think tank Carbon Tracker. — BBC