Dear oil companies, education is not for sale.
These pictures were taken a year ago on the campus of the prestigious French technology and science university “École Polytechnique”. That day, Greenpeace France and other French civil society organizations were protesting against French oil and gas major Total's influence on the higher education and the company's project to establish a Total research and innovation center in the heart of the campus.
Today, Greenpeace France, anti-corruption group ANTICOR and the student association La Sphinx cited Total’s CEO Patrick Pouyanné for conflict of interest, pushing the company’s fossil fuels agenda through the same university.
The purpose of this complaint is to shed light on the possible diversion of a public institution's interests to serve private interests, those of a company whose projects have dramatic consequences for people, the environment and the climate.
Total knows that the tide is turning and that the age of fossil fuels is coming to an end. To protect its interests, it tries to extend its hold and influence all levels of society, including the younger generation who is reluctant to work in the fossil fuels sector.
We must do everything we can to prevent Total and other climate wrecking companies from doing that.
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