Patrick Pouyanné, CEO of French oil company TotalEnergies, spent Friday at the 29th UN Climate Conference (COP29) in Baku, where he defended the actions of his company and the petroleum sector, accused of exerting undue influence on climate diplomacy.
"Yes, we are part of the problem of climate change, but we are in a logic of continuous progress,” even “if we never go fast enough” in the eyes of society, Pouyanné told French news agency AFP.
The TotalEnergies boss had just taken part in his first public event of the day: a discussion in the conference's Azerbaijan Pavilion with Rovshan Najaf, Chairman of the national oil company, Socar, and other personalities.
Pouyanné described as an "important signal" the agreement reached last year at COP28 in Dubai - to move towards a gradual phase-out of fossil fuels. However, "we must not believe that in six months or a year, all this will stop," he said, pointing out that European demand for gas had recently increased.
TotalEnergies and Socar have announced that they will be working together to detect methane leaks (which occur on gas pipelines and extraction sites) in order to reduce and, if possible, eliminate them by 2030.
At COP28, 52 oil companies pledged to achieve "close to zero methane" emissions in their operations by 2030, under the eye of sceptical observers. This year, 55 companies have made this commitment. According to the head of TotalEnergies, these signatories represent 45% of global production.
Pouyanné noted that "2030 is not a distant horizon, it's tomorrow.
"We have the technologies, so this target is achievable and at a relatively reasonable price," he said on Friday afternoon, flanked by his Italgas counterpart, Pier Lorenzo Dell'Orco, and Luca Schieppati, Managing Director of Trans Adriatic Pipeline AG (TAP AG).
"It is vital that we act together," the TotalEnergies CEO stressed, “because the oil industry is not just about the big majors, it's also about a whole host of national companies” that do not necessarily have all the tools or the same culture of transparency.
On Thursday, a study by Carbon Tracker condemned major gaps in the plans of the oil and gas giants to hunt down methane. It noted that these plans did not cover, for example, the joint ventures that they do not operate, but in which they have holdings.
