* CEO says transition debate should move to demand side
* Pouyanne says society must be ready to pay to go green
* Total expanding investments in green energies
* Targets 25 GW of renewables by 2025
* "We don't want to go away from oil and gas" - Pouyanne
By Bate Felix and Ron Bousso
ABERDEEN, Scotland, Feb 11 (Reuters) - It is up to
governments to drive decarbonisation and consumers will have to
pay more to achieve carbon neutrality, Total's chief
executive said, adding the French firm has no intention of
moving away from oil and gas production.
Oil firms should not be seen as "villains" amid growing
pressure from investors and climate activists, chief executive
and chairman Patrick Pouyanne told Reuters at Total's
headquarters in the Scottish oil hub of Aberdeen.
Giving up on oil and gas would be "a huge mistake", partly
because it pays for investment in green technology, he said,
echoing Shell CEO Ben van Beurden who told Reuters last
year that it had no choice but to invest in oil and
gas..
"Suppose we announced today that we have stopped producing
oil, do you think cars will suddenly be driven without gasoline?
No, it doesn't work. It is not black and white," he added.
"We don't want to go away from oil and gas. We have all the
financial capacities to be in the driving seat (of the energy
transition) and not to be the villains of the story," he said.
Since Pouyanne, 56, became CEO in 2014 after his predecessor
Christophe de Margerie died in a plane crash, Total has
introduced targets to cut carbon emissions, although critics say
it is still not aligned with the United Nations-backed 2015
Paris climate agreement to limit global warming.
"Society wants to be carbon neutral, but the energy
companies will not be carbon neutral," Pouyanne
"Maybe it will take 20 years. It will take time, and this
will have an impact on demand, so we need to position the
company to be ready," Pouyanne said.
Pouyanne said Total will choose at some point whether to
abandon oil and gas, but for now fossil fuel profits remain the
engine of its growth in renewable and low-carbon energy.
Revenue from its largest segment is needed to grow in power
markets, electric vehicle charging technologies and biofuels
which are less profitable, and in some cases, loss-making.
But as Total's new low-carbon businesses become larger and
more profitable, that could change.
"At a certain point, we'll probably have to choose; do we
insist more on this one or this one. Today we have the financial
capacity to look at various axis."
Total, which has rebranded itself in recent years as an
energy rather than oil and gas company, is targeting a near
ten-fold expansion in renewable power generation by 2025, but
Pouyanne said this will not come cheap.
"Maybe society wants oil to be green, but to be green that
means we are ready to pay for it," he said.
For example, if European governments decided that all
domestic flights should have around 2% of biofuels in the jet
fuel, it could increase costs for an average French airline
company by around 100 million euros ($109 million) a year, which
would be passed on to passengers, Pouyanne calculated.
Total and rival energy companies had been used as
"scapegoats", Pouyanne said, adding that the debate should be
about demand not supply.
"Today, car engines consume oil. If tomorrow car
manufacturers decide that most of the cars are electric-driven,
the demand will just disappear," he added
Pouyanne said that while oil and gas account for most of its
operations, 50% of Total's activities will focus on gas by 2040,
30% on oil and biofuels and 20% on electricity.
Total's oil and gas production grew 9% last year when net
profits reached almost $12 billion, allowing it to boost
dividends.
And although only 10% of its $17.4 billion investments in
2019 went into renewables, Total has expanded further in recent
weeks with projects in Qatar, India and Spain.
($1 = 0.9142 euros)
(Reporting by Bate Felix and Ron Bousso;
Editing by Alexander Smith)
