- Muslim women break taboos navigating east London's waterways
- Nepal dam-building spree powers electric vehicle boom
- More than 60 dead from storm Helene as rescue, cleanup efforts grow
- Dozens missing, 9 dead in migrant boat wreck off Spanish Canaries
- Death toll from Hurricane John hits eight in Mexico
- Storm Helene's toll rises as rescue and cleanup efforts gain pace
- SpaceX launches mission to return stranded astronauts
- Storm Helene kills 44, threatens more 'catastrophic' flooding as cleanup begins
- SpaceX set to launch mission to return stranded astronauts
- Storm Helene kills 44, threatens more 'catastrophic' flooding
- Boeing strike grinds on as latest talks fail to reach agreement
- Iran 'news' sites, hackers target Trump ahead of US election
- US ports brace for potential dockworkers strike
- Japan's speedy, spotless Shinkansen bullet trains turn 60
- US hurricane deaths rise to 44, fears of more 'catastrophic' flooding
- Global stocks mostly rise, cheering Beijing stimulus
- Europe en route for Moon with new simulator, says astronaut Pesquet
- Fireworks forecast if comet survives risky Sun flypast
- Argentina judge orders dictionary to delete pejorative definition of 'Jewish'
- Global stocks rise on rate hopes, Beijing stimulus
- S.African woman turns 118, among the oldest in the world
- UK clears $4 bn AI partnership between Amazon, Anthropic
- Barca fans barred from Champions League away game over racist banner
- Chinese stocks extend surge, Europe higher on Beijing stimulus
- Pope says Church must 'seek forgiveness' for child sexual abuse
- China caps week of 'bazooka' stimulus for ailing economy with rate cut
- Cuts, cash, credit: China bids to jumpstart flagging economy
- France's debt weighs heavier ahead of budget debate
- Iran treads carefully, backing Hezbollah while avoiding war
- Return to sender: waste stranded at sea stirs toxic dispute
- 'Broken' news industry faces uncertain future
- On remote Greek island, migratory birds offer climate clues
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- China cuts amount banks hold in reserve to boost lending
- Hong Kong, Shanghai extend surge as China optimism boosts markets
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- Drought reduces Amazon River in Colombia by as much as 90%: report
- Stay or go? Pacific Islanders face climate's grim choice
- Florida bracing for 'unsurvivable' Hurricane Helene
- Poverty rises to over 52 percent in Milei's Argentina
- Chloe's see-through look may not be for Kamala Harris
- Champagne houses abuzz over English sparkling wine
- Macron, Trudeau pledge to work for 'decarbonized' economies
- Hurricanes, storms, typhoons... Is September wetter than usual?
- China stimulus, tech optimism boost stock markets
- 'Unsurvivable' Hurricane Helene races towards Florida
- Macron meets Trudeau in Canada as both face political setbacks
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- Chloe's see-through look may not be for Kamala
- Floods threaten Niger's historic 'gateway to the desert'
Climate activists put the heat on shareholder meetings
Climate activists are using shareholder meetings to turn up the heat on corporations about their carbon footprints, from flooding them with questions to more colourful tactics like singing or throwing cake at executives.
Last week's Volkswagen shareholders meeting was particularly testy, with a cake landing on the podium where supervisory board member Wolfgang Porsche, who was celebrating his 80th birthday, was sitting.
Scientist Rebellion activists held up a sign slamming the emissions from the group's vehicles. Another person took her top off in protest at the company's operations in China's Xinjiang region, where rights groups and the US say genocide is taking place.
"I wanted to go directly to the source of the car lobbies," said one of the activists, Monika Krimmer, a 60-year-old psychotherapist who held up signs and handed out fliers at the Berlin meeting.
In Paris on Tuesday, Scientist Rebellion members inundated BNP Paribas executives with questions about the European banking giant's climate strategy -- to the point of angering shareholders who hurled insults at the scientists.
BNP bosses, however, answered the questions.
"Do not underestimate the targets we have set," said CEO Jean-Laurent Bonnafe, while refusing to draw a red line regarding firms that invest in new fossil fuel fields.
- Spice Girls -
Earlier this month in London, HSBC's gathering was repeatedly interrupted by climate activists, with some demanding that the bank stop investing in fossil fuel companies and others accusing the firm of lying.
Fed up with the interruptions, executives asked that the activists be escorted out.
Days earlier, a group of activists disrupted the Barclays bank meeting, changing the lyrics to a Spice Girls song to sing "stop funding fossil fuels and end this madness".
Lorette Philippot, a campaigner at environmental group Friends of Earth, said shareholder meetings are where companies discuss their performance and make new pledges.
"So it's our role as a counter-power to both tell the truth about their actions and prevent this annual display of greenwashing," Philippot told AFP, using the term for misleading climate pledges made by companies.
The meetings are also a chance to push companies to step up their climate ambitions, she added.
- Virtual meetings -
Activist actions at shareholder gatherings are nothing new -- Greenpeace members rocked the meeting of French energy giant TotalEnergies in 2018, some hanging from the ceiling with signs reading "break free from oil".
But the "climate issue is rising in a somewhat radicalised way" with "more and more confrontations, sometimes violent", said Benedicte Hautefort, co-founder of Scalens, a financial technology firm serving listed companies.
In the United States, some corporations have avoided confrontation as they continue to hold virtual meetings, such as oil giants ExxonMobil and Chevron and banking group JPMorgan Chase.
"In a world where boards have precious little accountability, it's a step backwards," said Andrew Logan, senior director for oil and gas at Ceres, a nonprofit that works in favour of sustainability policies through capital markets.
M.P.Jacobs--CPN