TotalEnergies, among the world's biggest energy companies, announced last year that it would invest some $10.5 billion in Suriname -- South America's smallest country -- which is seeking to exploit its oil and gas reserves.
"This is not a good thing," said Environment Minister Mathieu Lefevre.
"My views are in line with the French position, which favours exiting fossil fuels," he told the franceinfo broadcaster.
"We will never manage the climate transition without companies," the minister said.
The cost of the energy transition in France was estimated at 115 billion euros ($134 billion), with state funding covering only 15 billion. "The rest is private-sector financing," he said.
Asked about the inclusion of TotalEnergies chairman Patrick Pouyanne in the French delegation at the COP30 international climate conference in Brazil, Lefevre said he did "not wish to put blame on French company leaders who employ many people in our country".
Suriname is planning to bring a new oil field onstream in 2028, targeting a production of 220,000 barrels per day, compared to under 6,000 currently.
TotalEnergies has said that Suriname's GranMorgu deep offshore oil project had been designed to minimise its greenhouse gas emissions.
TotalEnergies, which employs more than 100,000 people in around 120 countries, produces and markets oil, biofuels, natural gas, renewables and electricity.
A rare oil CEO shows up at COP30, spars with activists
Belem, Brazil (AFP) Nov 14, 2025 - The head of France's TotalEnergies, one of the few oil executives to attend UN climate talks in Brazil, jousted Friday with activists, defended his presence and sidestepped questions about his sector's role in global warming.
After speaking in a panel at COP30 in Belem, TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanne was confronted by a Greenpeace activist over demands that the fossil fuel industry compensate victims of extreme weather events.
"There have been cyclones in the Caribbean for decades," Pouyanne retorted.
When told they were "accelerating," he replied: "I am not a scientist."
"I am not a meteorologist," Pouyanne said when asked by AFP about science showing hurricanes are becoming more intense.
"I simply observe that, unfortunately, there were (cyclones), there are still (cyclones) and there will be more."
The IPCC, the UN-mandated body that assesses climate science, has concluded that climate change is not expected to increase the total number of tropical cyclones, but that the frequency of more intense storms will rise.
Emissions from burning fossil fuels -- oil, gas and coal -- are the main drivers of climate change.
Pouyanne attended an event on decarbonizing the oil and gas industry. An executive from Brazilian state-owned energy firm Petrobras and a government official also spoke.
The head of COP30, Brazilian diplomat Andre Correa do Lago, cancelled his appearance to speak with Indigenous protesters who had blocked the main access to the conference center.
The Greenpeace activist pointed to a report from NGOs denouncing the presence of many lobbyists tied to the fossil fuel industry at COP30.
A total of 1,602 delegates with links to the oil, gas and coal sectors have headed to Belem, equivalent to around one in 25 participants, according to Kick Big Polluters Out (KBPO), which analyzed the list of attendees.
"I am not a lobbyist at all. ... You are very wrong," Pouyanne said.
"I was invited. I came and I believe in dialogue. I don't think we will make progress on climate through exclusion because otherwise what will happen? We will stay in our corner, we'll make our oil and that's it?"
He also was skeptical about the prospect of a roadmap for phasing out fossil fuels, an idea that some countries, including France, would like to officially launch at COP30.
"It's a European vision, organized by governments. Perhaps we should also trust the stakeholders who are investing," Pouyanne said.
"Thinking that we'll succeed through regulation alone -- we're starting to realize that won't work."
World 'will suffer' without fossil fuels: Russia's COP30 negotiator
Belem, Brazil (AFP) Nov 14, 2025 -
Russia's chief negotiator at the UN climate talks in Brazil, Vladimir Uskov, told AFP that the world still needs fossil fuels and criticized Western nations for breaking promises on climate finance.
Russia is the world's fifth largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China, the United States, India and the European Union.
Its delegation at the UN talks in Belem, a city on the edge of the Amazon, has 80 people, according to a UN list of participants.
Here are some excerpts from AFP's interview with Uskov, which was conducted in English:
QUESTION: There is no official US representation at COP30. Is this an opportunity to see new global leaders emerge in the climate talks?
ANSWER: "We are very much convinced that no country should be excluded out of this process. And even if current administrations pursue some definite policies, the problem stays the same. But of course the lack of action with the biggest emitters will somehow delay the results of this process."
QUESTION: Brazil, with which you have a good relationship, is pushing for a fossil fuel roadmap. Is it something you support?
ANSWER: "It's good to talk about phasing down, or even phasing out fossil fuels while you are living in such developed nations as France."
"While people in cities like Belem do not even have the access to food and to electricity, we cannot say that we need to develop solar or wind but we don't have the basics. So, these people need energy and these people sometimes and often need fuels as well."
"So we need this good mix of transitional fuels like natural gas, nuclear energy, also fossil fuels. If we start living without fossil fuels, even people in France will suffer, believe me."
QUESTION: But on the roadmap, what is your specific answer?
ANSWER: "I cannot, unfortunately, rely on the solar in Siberia, but people live there in Siberia. And of course, people in Amazonia probably sometimes should not rely on fossil fuels, as they have a lot of solar energy. So this is the mix."
"Traditional donors, developed nations are not fulfilling their obligations. They ask countries like Brazil to cut their emissions. And 'we will provide you with finance and technology.' That never happened."
"Of course, the lack of trust is there. And developing nations, we think, justifiably demand from us developed nations to become bolder and to take good, real actions."
QUESTION: There are four difficult issues being discussed at the moment including finance and trade. Do you trust the Brazilian presidency to find common ground?
ANSWER: "Our Brazilian partners and presidency will do their best to bridge the gaps. But, you mentioned trade and financial flows. These things cannot be solved in the COP in the two weeks (that the conference lasts)."
"You cannot build something illegal, like trade barriers, like the European Union does on one hand, and on the other hand, promise people money."
"Brazilian colleagues and the presidency are realistic, they will not achieve like, I don't know, historic results. But here it will be a historic result already that in the turbulent political circumstances like we have now in 2025, we are here and we are achieving technical steps."
QUESTION: Is Russia willing to commit to a more ambitious Nationally Determined Contribution (roadmaps by countries to reduce emissions) than it currently has?
ANSWER: "Our country is subjected to enormous pressure of illegal limitations, which does not help with financial flows, technology transfer and international trade. Which is absolutely out of the UN mandate and which is totally illegal. And despite this fact, we have represented our ambitious NDC."
"I would like to remind you that some bigger actors, I will not name the countries or blocs of countries, have not done so. So we will do much more if we have the possibility to have a fair trade, to have free financial flows and if (the) geopolitical situation allows us to do so, we will, of course, subsequently raise our ambition."
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