In Davos, the head of TotalEnergies calls on the EU to "protect" its green industry

The CEO intended to highlight the contradictions of the EU Green Deal, the European green growth strategy to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050: it requires massive mobilization of renewable energies, while this sector is weakened in Europe by tough competition deemed unfair by industrialists.

"We need to reconcile the objective" of the Green Deal and "green industry," the leader said at a conference on European electricity attended by Maros Sefcovic, European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security.

The leader cited two examples: SAF, sustainable aviation fuel, and solar panels. "Today I invest in factories in Europe (...) to produce SAF, but I see imports of SAF coming from China which is at a much lower cost than what I can produce in Europe. I am not protected," said Patrick Pouyanné.

For the CEO of the French oil and gas group, which is diversifying and dedicating a third of its investments to renewable energies, "the [EU green] agenda clearly does not protect European industries", while the United States "did it under (Joe) Biden", through the mega-plan to support the American green industry IRA (Inflation Reduction Act).

"I am a big investor in solar in the United States (...). If I want to have a tax incentive, I am obliged to take solar panel manufacturers in the United States," he explained.

He acknowledges that producing these cleaner technologies "costs more in Europe", but "we have to find a way to protect" the industry, and "that means giving preference to European products".

The CEO of the French group, which presents itself as the main exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the United States, is one of the bosses who will question Donald Trump during his video conference at the Davos Forum on Thursday, scheduled for 16:00 p.m. GMT.