The head of France’s TotalEnergies, one of the few oil executives to attend UN climate talks in Brazil, jousted Friday with activists, defended his presence and sidestepped questions about his sector’s role in global warming.
After speaking in a panel at COP30 in Belem, TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanne was confronted by a Greenpeace activist over demands that the fossil fuel industry compensate victims of extreme weather events.
“There have been cyclones in the Caribbean for decades,” Pouyanne retorted.
When told they were “accelerating,” he replied: “I am not a scientist.”
“I am not a meteorologist,” Pouyanne said when asked by AFP about science showing hurricanes are becoming more intense.
“I simply observe that, unfortunately, there were (cyclones), there are still (cyclones) and there will be more.”
The IPCC, the UN-mandated body that assesses climate science, has concluded that climate change is not expected to increase the total number of tropical cyclones, but that the frequency of more intense storms will rise.
Emissions from burning fossil fuels — oil, gas and coal — are the main drivers of climate change.
Pouyanne attended an event on decarbonizing the oil and gas industry. An executive from Brazilian state-owned energy firm Petrobras and a government official also spoke.
The head of COP30, Brazilian diplomat Andre Correa do Lago, cancelled his appearance to speak with Indigenous protesters who had blocked the main access to the conference center.
The Greenpeace activist pointed to a report from NGOs denouncing the presence of many lobbyists tied to the fossil fuel industry at COP30.
A total of 1,602 delegates with links to the oil, gas and coal sectors have headed to Belem, equivalent to around one in 25 participants, according to Kick Big Polluters Out (KBPO), which analyzed the list of attendees.
“I am not a lobbyist at all. … You are very wrong,” Pouyanne said.
“I was invited. I came and I believe in dialogue. I don’t think we will make progress on climate through exclusion because otherwise what will happen? We will stay in our corner, we’ll make our oil and that’s it?”
He also was skeptical about the prospect of a roadmap for phasing out fossil fuels, an idea that some countries, including France, would like to officially launch at COP30.
“It’s a European vision, organized by governments. Perhaps we should also trust the stakeholders who are investing,” Pouyanne said.
“Thinking that we’ll succeed through regulation alone — we’re starting to realize that won’t work.”
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