#AskPP – Episode 3

Buno: Yeah, I've got it more or less in my head, yeah. Hello, my name is Bruno, I have a question: What do you think of the controversy surrounding COP 28 in the United Arab Emirates?

Patrick Pouyanné: I understand the controversy because it's an oil-producing country and at the same time, as I’ve already said, I think that when you want to help certain people to progress, you should put them in the spotlight. It's like that in the company. When I want to make progress on an issue of diversity, for example in the company, I suggest the idea to a man who's not very diverse. This is how you make progress. I think in this case, the fact that COP 28 is taking place in the United Arab Emirates, chaired by a representative of this oil-producing country, may come as a shock. I can tell you what's going on in real life, is that he's proud, he wants COP 28 to be a success, he's getting the whole oil world working to make a real contribution to COP 28.

In the world of oil, it's not just companies like TotalEnergies, private companies with the best technologies. It's a world where there are many multi-national companies. The National Company of the United Arab Emirates, those of Arabia, Kuwait, Nigeria. What he is doing is trying to convince the national companies of producing countries to commit to reducing their emissions, and in particular to moving towards zero methane. Of course, there's a glass half-empty and a glass half-full. We'll see if Sultan al-Jaber, President of COP 28, can convince as many companies as possible.

In any case, I think it's a very practical way of advancing the climate movement. So, I think that by asking an oil-producing country to make progress on climate, change is a way of making it face its responsibilities, and I think this can have a positive impact.

Agathe: Hello, my name is Agathe, and my question is: what are the renewable energies of tomorrow?

Patrick Pouyanné: Hello Agathe, renewable energies are: solar, wind, offshore wind, onshore wind... Water, of course, hydroelectricity, which is the energy of yesterday but also of tomorrow and allows us to store energy. Then we have the whole field of synthetic energies, we're going to manufacture energies, synthetic fuels, from CO₂ and hydrogen. There's huge potential for renewable energies in the future.