President Macron: Stop funding TOTAL!

Having just hosted the One Planet Summit, President Macron of France wants to be seen by the world as an environmental leader. But at the same time he's considering giving millions in taxpayer money to fossil fuel giant TOTAL - so they can drill for gas in the Arctic.

Let’s take this opportunity to call President Macron out on this duplicity. Add your name to this letter calling on France’s leader to immediately halt all support for fossil fuels!

Having both spoken at the United Nations and hosted a major environmental conference - the One Planet Summit - all in one week, President Macron of France loves to present himself as a climate leader. But at the same time, he’s wanting to provide major support to French oil company Total for a fossil gas project in the Arctic.

If it’s allowed to go ahead, this fossil fuel mega-project could have devastating impacts on the world and worsen the climate crisis we are already in.

But thanks to the One Planet environmental summit being in the news, all eyes are on its host: President Macron. So let’s take advantage of that fact and call him out on his hypocrisy in supporting polluters like Total.

Together, we will send a letter to President Macron asking him to immediately withdraw his support for polluting fossil fuel projects. Add your name to the letter now!

The French government is in talks with Total to fund a massively polluting fossil gas project in the Arctic. This huge gas project aims to produce and export the equivalent of seven BILLION barrels of oil, twelve times France’s annual consumption. [1]

This isn’t the only dirty project Total is receiving public money for. The company is also on track to set up one of Africa’s biggest fossil fuel projects in Mozambique, a country that is already starting to face the devastating impacts of climate breakdown.

European governments continue to fund companies to exploit the land, abuse resources, and violate human rights in countries on the other side of the world. This is what modern-day European colonialism looks like. And it needs to be stopped.

President Macron’s is still all over the news after hosting a major environmental summit this week. Together, let’s send him a letter and demand that he stop supporting climate criminals like Total.

Sources:

[1] France24

President of the Republic 
Palais de l'Elysée
55 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré
75 008 Paris

Dear Mr. Emmanuel Macron,

The One Planet Summit is a unique opportunity to respond to the COVID-19 crisis, by putting international solidarity, environmental protection and the fight against climate change at the centre of the action of the governments and companies represented.

We call on you to uphold France's commitments by putting an end, as of 2021, to state subsidies and investments for coal, oil and gas or any other polluting projects via French financial institutions, both public and private, and to hold Total accountable for the damage it has caused.

The fossil fuel sector has been the main contributor to greenhouse gas emissions since the industrial revolution, accounting for more than a third of emissions, and continues to be the main threat to climate and biodiversity. On the other hand, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) obliges States Parties to take measures to conserve biodiversity and promote the sustainable use of natural resources. This implies safeguarding natural ecosystems and protected areas and spaces by minimising activities that have a negative impact on biodiversity, such as the exploration and extraction of fossil fuels.

It would be "inconsistent" and "irresponsible" for France to support Arctic LNG 2 or any other polluting projects through export guarantees, as you have yourself stressed at the UN in September 2019. Choosing to support the exploitation and transportation of gas in the Russian Arctic would be a major contradiction of your previous declarations as well as France's international obligations.

Unlike claims, by majors such as Total, arguing that gas is a transitional energy, the scientific community is unanimous: there is no room to explore new gas reserves in the global carbon budget allowing us to keep the global warming below +1.5°C. The United Nations Environment Programme has shown that gas production forecasts for 2040 are already 47% higher than the levels compatible with a 2°C global warming scenario.

Bruno Le Maire announced the government's plan to end export credit guarantees for oil projects in 2025, and for gas projects in 2035. These timelines evidently clash with scientific recommendations, and are incompatible with limiting global warming to 1.5°C. Moreover, the exclusions proposed by the government omit transport infrastructure (gas pipelines, oil pipelines, LNG terminals), which accounts for 20% of credit insurance granted in the fossil fuel sector, leaving the door wide open for financing fuel-based power plants. France must urgently rectify its proposals on ending official export credit guarantee for the most polluting sectors.

On the other hand, the Caisse des dépôts et consignations has claimed that "its responsible investment approach is at the heart of its leitmotiv", while continuing to invest, without transparency, in oil and gas. All the institutions and portfolios managed by CDC, such as CNP Assurances, la Banque postale, the Fonds de réserve pour les retraites, the Ircantec, the Livret A, the Livret du développement durable, etc., must immediately exclude companies investing in fossil fuel exploration and put an end to support for the expansion of the oil and gas sectors. More than 24 million people own a Livret de développement durable et solidaire (LDDS), 60% of which is managed via the CDC savings fund. While some of it is used to finance loans for social housing or various infrastructure projects, a large part of this money is placed on the financial markets. Despite the lack of transparency, we know that the CDC savings fund invests in companies such as Total, Engie, Vallourec and Technip. This contradiction is unbearable.

At a time when the United Kingdom is considering ending all fossil fuel subsidies through its export credit agency (UKEF), when the UN Secretary General has called on public financial institutions to put an end to fossil finance, these policies are undermining France's credibility on the international stage. 
 
We further invite you to read the "Principles for financial institutions aligned with the Paris Accord", published in September 2020 by 60 NGOs at the international level.

Thus, France must pledge to:

- Ensure full compatibility of the activities of its public financial institution, such as the Caisse des dépôts et consignations, with the Paris Agreement.

- End support for fossil fuels via Bpifrance Assurance Export, as of 2021 in the finance bill, including in the so-called "conventional" oil and gas sector, for exploration, electricity generation and associated transport infrastructure.

- Renew its climate financing commitments towards developing countries.

With this letter, we call on you to be accountable towards your commitments and France's international obligations.

Please accept, Mr. President, the expression of our respectful consideration.

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President Macron: Stop funding TOTAL!

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