Oil giant Total’s chief announces new unit to invest in forests

The head of French energy giant Total announced Saturday that the company would invest a hundred million dollars annually on a new forest preservation and reforestation project.

“We want to set up a business unit to invest in projects that will preserve forests,” chief executive Patrick Pouyanne told a meeting to discuss economic issues in Aix-en-Provence, in the south of France.

The company would spend $100 million a year on the project, he said.

“The most effective way today to eliminate carbon, for less than $10 a tonne, is reforestation,” he added.

“This is not philanthropy,” he added. “It’s about investing in the medium- and long-term. A project for the forests, it has to last a long time to be positive for the planet.”

Pouyanne was speaking just days after Total said it had begun producing biofuel at a refinery in southern France, a project that has sparked an outcry from environmentalists and farmers over its plans to import palm oil.