Environmental groups are stepping up pressure on TotalEnergies ahead of its annual shareholder meeting in Paris on Friday, accusing the French oil and gas giant of profiting from the conflict in the Middle East while continuing to expand fossil fuel production despite France's climate commitments.
TotalEnergies has good news for its shareholders: it reported record profits of $5.8 billion in the first quarter of 2026 – helped in part by the crisis in the Middle East, which sent oil prices rocketing.
Chief executive Patrick Pouyanné has made no secret of the group's strategy since the conflict with Iran began on 28 February, when the United States and Israel launched air strikes on Iran.
"Our oil traders – and it's their job – noticed that the US Navy was massing ships around the Persian Gulf in February," Pouyanne told French newspaper Le Figaro on Thursday. "They decided to take a position counter to the market, which was trending down at the time, and to buy, saying something was about to happen."
Total was the sole buyer in March of Middle East crude as the conflict drastically cut supply, snapping up around 70 Oman and Abu Dhabi cargoes – about 35 million barrels – trade data showed. This helped send the benchmark Dubai price to a record high of nearly $170 per barrel.
Profiting from war
France's hard-left France Unbowed party (LFI) has accused Pouyanne of being a “war profiteer”, while Marine Tondelier, leader of the French Greens, has called for him to be stripped of his Legion of Honour.
Critics also accuse TotalEnergies of paying very little corporate tax in France, and in some years none at all.
The company insists it pays taxes “where it extracts oil and gas". However, a significant share of its profits come from Switzerland, Singapore and the United Kingdom, where TotalEnergies produces little to no fossil fuel.
The group has set up subsidiaries specialising in trading in those countries, speculating on hydrocarbon supplies – including by taking positions linked to the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz. Its Geneva-based subsidiary Totsa generated $1bn of its total $5.8bn profits.
An investigation by the Multinationals Observatory found that the profits generated by TotalEnergies’ subsidiaries dedicated to oil and gas trading account for 40 percent, and sometimes as much as 80 percent, of the dividends paid to the parent company.
TotalEnergies benefits from very favourable tax regimes in those countries – 14 percent in Singapore compared with 25 percent in France.
Climate strategy under fire
Environmental groups including Reclaim Finance, Earth Insight and Climate Action Network France criticise what they describe as the worsening climate impact of TotalEnergies' strategy.
At a press conference on Thursday they also expressed concern over the French state’s continued backing for the group, despite its climate commitments, and the little-known but significant role played by major French investors – including the public financial institution Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations.
While the current geopolitical situation has boosted TotalEnergies’ performance, environmental campaigners say the current extreme weather conditions in France, which has been experiencing an early heatwave, are a reminder of the group's focus on CO2-generating fossil fuels.
“This annual general meeting is taking place during a heatwave. It is important to remember that this heatwave did not come out of nowhere, but is linked in particular to fossil fuel multinationals such as Total, which will use the AGM to celebrate exceptional profits,” Lorelei Limousin of Greenpeace France told reporters.
“But these profits are also destructive for the climate. It is really quite indecent.”
'Contradictory' position
While France has committed to a fair and orderly transition away from fossil fuels, TotalEnergies plans to continue increasing its oil and gas production.
“TotalEnergies is preparing people to accept the idea that the goals of the [2005] Paris Agreement [to hold the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C] are no longer achievable, while France is fighting in international forums to ensure these commitments are respected,” said Gaia Febvre of Climate Action Network France.
“What we ultimately see is a contradiction between France’s climate diplomacy – which presents the country as a champion of moving away from fossil fuels – and, at the same time, unwavering support for TotalEnergies. It is extremely shocking.”
The NGOs are calling on public institutions that hold shares in TotalEnergies, as well as the French state, to take a stand against the company’s current trajectory.
