PARIS, May 23 (Reuters) - About a dozen activists from the Extinction Rebellion climate group briefly occupied the entrance lobby of French bank BNP Paribas' headquarters in Paris on Friday morning in protest against what they said are BNP's links with TotalEnergies, which holds its annual shareholders meeting on Friday afternoon.

Environmentalist protesters, some wearing white masks, briefly shouted slogans and threw around fake money before police pushed them out of the building.

Sign up here.

Extinction Rebellion said in a statement the action was part of a campaign against TotalEnergies and its partners.

It said that several NGOs are denouncing TotalEnergies' decision not to put the usual "Say on Climate" questions on its climate strategy to the vote at the shareholders meeting and said this was part of "the fossil fuel industry's unabashed backtracking on its human and environmental commitments."

Earlier this year, TotalEnergies said it would not put a vote to investors on its sustainability strategy progress report and only consult shareholders in the event of a strategy change. The company instead will hold a climate debate during the shareholders meeting.

TotalEnergies said on Friday it fully respects the right to protest and freedom of expression but added that it deplores all forms of violence, whether verbal, physical or material.

BNP Paribas said it condemned "the aggressive actions of Extinction Rebellion and all forms of physical violence".

It added that BNP Paribas is committed to supporting the energy transition and that any new financing it grants to the energy production sector is almost exclusively reserved for low-carbon energy sources.

TotalEnergies' shareholders meeting got underway on Friday at its headquarters in Paris' La Defense business district .

Extinction Rebellion said that in the afternoon activists will converge on "a symbolic Parisian site" to hold a "Counter-General Energy Assembly," without naming the site.

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/extinction-rebellion-briefly-occupies-bnp-paribas-entrance-totalenergies-protest-2025-05-23/