PARIS (Reuters) – On Tuesday, environmental activists disrupted BNP Paribas’ annual shareholder meeting in Paris. The OTC: accused France’s most listed bank of being Europe’s principal financing partner for the sector fossil fuels.

When bank executives gave the targets and action plans for combating climate change to the bank, the representatives of the bank hounded the alarms on the portable phones of fourteen activists.

The activists released a statement in which they also criticised BNP Paribas’ ties to TotalEnergies. They pointed out BNP Paribas’ financing connections with France’s oil-and-energy giant.

Global corporations and governments are increasingly concerned about climate change. Many environmental activists target annual general meetings. According to Lloyd’s of London, climate protests are a real threat for its annual general meetings (AGM).

The BNP Paribas shareholder meeting was interrupted by 20 minute long storm near the Louvre.

Jean-Laurent Bonnafe, chief executive of BNP Paribas, defended TotalEnergies’ loan to the bank at the meeting. He stated that it wasn’t aimed to finance fossil energy activities, but to improve TotalEnergies’ financial situation in light of volatility in the markets following Russia’s invasion.

BNP Paribas also promised earlier in this month that it would end all new funding for oil production in Amazon (NASDAQ;) and stated that it will reduce “financed emission intensity” in energy and automotive sectors.