Climate change activists block the entrance of the Societe Generale bank headquarters in La Defense, near Paris, during an environmental protest called by the NGO Extinction Rebellion, on April 19.THOMAS SAMSON/AFP/Getty Images
Climate activists blocked thousands of employees from entering the headquarters of French bank Société Générale, state-run utility Électricité de France (EDF) and oil giant Total SA on Friday, environmental group Greenpeace said.
Greenpeace said it was protesting against company links to the oil and gas industry, which it calls a driving force in global warming. Activists also obstructed the entrance to the environment ministry near La Défense business district.
Protesters plastered giant posters of President Emmanuel Macron carrying the slogan “Macron, President of Polluters” and a banner reading “Scene of Climate Crime” on the glass facade of Société Générale, Reuters TV images showed.
Police pepper-sprayed one group blocking the bank’s main entrance in a sit-down protest.
Some demonstrators taped themselves together, while others cuffed themselves with plastic ties to metal poles to make it harder for police to dislodge them.
Employees in business suits milled around outside their offices. “I just want to get inside and on with my work,” one frustrated bank employee said.
Greenpeace and action group Les Amis de la Terre (Friends of the Earth) have previously criticized Société Générale for its role in financing oil and gas projects, in particular the Rio Grande LNG gas project in the United States.
A Société Générale spokesman declined to comment.
A spokesman for EDF, which relies heavily on nuclear and hydropower plants to generate electricity, said 96 per cent of its power was carbon dioxide-free. He said EDF was committed to curbing its total carbon footprint by 40 per cent by 2030.
A Total spokeswoman said two senior company executives had held talks with representatives of Greenpeace and Les Amis de la Terre.
At an oil industry summit in Paris on Friday, Total chief executive Patrick Pouyanné acknowledged the climate change protests.
“Many people are demonstrating in Paris and are asking for more action. We all know it is not so easy because the population’s primary request is for access to more energy, affordable energy and it has to be clean,” he said.
He added that Total was trying to address climate change by improving the efficiency of its operations, expanding its natural-gas business and developing an electricity business based on low-carbon gas and renewables.
He also said Total had increased its output to 2.95 million barrels of oil equivalent a day this year, passing its 2018 record, aided by increased production in Australia, Angola, Nigeria and Russia.
Friday’s protest echoed a series by the Extinction Rebellion group of climate-change campaigners in London this week that have caused transport snarl-ups in the British capital.
Teenage demonstrators staged an emotional protest, weeping and singing, at political inaction on climate change near London’s Heathrow Airport on Friday.