Engie SA (ENGI) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders and dear colleagues, I'm very happy to open this general meeting and -- that is taking place again physically after 2 years when we had to hold it at a distance for the reasons that you knew. It's a real pleasure for us all to find ourselves in the same room so to have a very direct and quality exchange, but this general meeting is broadcast live on our website. And I know that there are plenty of people attending remotely. Electronic voting was possible until yesterday, at 3:00 p.m. And all of the preparatory and legal documents were made available to you at the registered office and also in a more convenient way on our website within the regulatory deadlines. For those who have decided to vote in this room, you received voting tablets. You can consult the details of your shares with the corresponding voting rights. A general meeting is time for exchanges with our shareholders in different forms. And written questions, we received 37 of them. The Board of Directors that met this morning approved the answers to those questions, and they were put online on our site in a more simple and direct way. We also put online a platform that allowed you to ask questions directly and that platform is still running and can be used during this session. And we will welcome with a lot of pleasure the questions that you may want to ask in this room. We will answer all of those questions. There are more than 100 that have been asked within the time limit. We think that an hour should be enough to answer your questions and major concerns. As always, this general meeting was preceded by a dialogue that we tried to make as efficient as possible with our shareholders, institutional shareholders or individual shareholders. I met the advisory committee of individual shareholders and associations of individual and employee shareholders and a number of our institutional shareholders, about 20 of them. And we also have exchanged with the representatives of the mutual investment fund. In accordance with Article 20 of our bylaws, I have the honor to chair this meeting. At my side are Mrs. Catherine MacGregor, our General Manager; Pierre-Francois Riolacci, who joined us in the beginning of the year who's in charge of finance, CSR and procurement; and Claire Waysand, who you know, our Deputy General Manager in charge of the general secretariat, strategy, research, innovation and communication. Sitting in this room are all of the directors, the representative of the Social and Economic Committee, the main managers of the group, the members of the shareholders' advisory committee. And I greet them all and thank them for being present. Our auditors are also present. They will have the opportunity to express themselves at a later stage today. And I'm going to call as scrutineers the 2 shareholders present representing the largest number of votes. They are [indiscernible], representing the state; and [indiscernible], representing [indiscernible]. We also have with us [ Mr. Eric Mele ], who will make sure everything is done according to regulations. And I'd like to appoint Claire Waysand as the secretary of our meeting. The [ select ] committee has got at its disposal the documents attesting of -- the regularity of the convening of this meeting. And I was informed some minutes ago that 17,637 shareholders are already present or represented or have voted by Internet or letter, representing 1 billion -- more than 1 billion shares. That's the quorum. That is 92%. The legal quorum [ of the ] quota of the shares' voting rights has been reached, obviously. And before we vote on the resolutions, we will announce a final quorum that may be different from the one I just indicated. As a consequence, I declare that this meeting is regularly constituted and that it can validly deliberate. The agenda of our meeting includes 15 ordinary resolutions and 13 extraordinary resolutions. I would like to point out that 2 resolutions were submitted by the Link France mutual funds regarding the dividend and were not approved by the Board of Directors. As far as the organization of our works, I'm going to share a few words of introduction in a few minutes. Catherine MacGregor will then report on the strategy of the group, what happened in 2021 and also the prospects of the implementation of this strategy in the coming years. Pierre-Francois then will focus on the results of 2021 and will also give some prospects for the group in the coming years. We will listen to the auditors, to the report of the auditors. There will be a sequence about governance with my colleagues, the chairs of the different committees. And we will share with you the way the Board of Directors of the group works, and also its committees. And there will be a time for discussion with the shareholders, a question-and-answer session, questions from the floor but also questions sent from -- by different means of communication, before we vote on the resolutions. That's the agenda of this afternoon. And we hope it will make you understand where the group is [ out ] in its strategy of transformation. [ I'm ] changing positions to share with you a few comments to say that 2021 was an important year in the implementation of the transformation of the group initiated by the Board in July 2020. I evoked that matter last year, that the Board of Directors decided upon a number of strategic directions. That's on the basis of the strategic plan that Catherine MacGregor, who was recruited some weeks later, is -- has been implementing and -- since she started filling her position in the beginning of 2021. Catherine will detail our achievements in 2021 and the prospects for the coming years. I will keep, well, focus on 3 main achievements about our business portfolio. We wanted a simplification and an alignment of this business portfolio with clearly posted priorities. And you will note with me that it is what we have managed to achieve in 2021 with, in particular, 2 important disposals: the disposal of our stake in SUEZ and the disposal of our service business that is now called EQUANS. That is taking place in very good conditions in terms of valuation but also in -- from the point of view of the quality of the processes that allowed the implementation of these projects. Second important point is the setting up of a new organization. Catherine has set up an executive committee around her that is motivated and skillful, that supports her for -- to drive the transformation of the group. And the third point that is very important, and I hope you will understand that in our interventions, is the commitment of that team and our will to transform also the corporate culture at ENGIE to make [ it a very ] industrial group very much aware of its responsibilities as developers and operators of projects and a culture that is one of commitment and of responsibility. Pierre-Francois will discuss our 2021 results in a moment and will talk about the prospects of the group and will confirm our dividend policy. I know it's important for you. 2 years ago, we proposed to this general meeting and you answered in a very enthusiastic way. We proposed to approve the purpose of ENGIE and to put it in our bylaws, purpose relating to the role that we want to play in energy and climate transition. That purpose is not only a few words on a piece of paper. It's not a tool of communication only. I can confirm that it is a guide. And the Board of Directors, when it's got to make strategic decisions, is led, and my colleagues will testify, to refer to this purpose. And that really is the guide that makes it possible for us to set direction and make sure that the decisions we make on -- will respect that will to be a leader in energy and climate transition. I've got to insist on this because we will get back to this subject during this general meeting. Catherine MacGregor, in last May, presented our commitments in terms of climate change. And we thought it was important to ask your opinion about those commitments through a resolution, well, the -- we called it say on climate. We ask our shareholders to express themselves about this strategy, this climate strategy. We will get back to it during this meeting. 2022 is a year that started with a major geopolitical crisis on the borders of Europe very close to us. And we feel at ENGIE very much affected by what is going on in Ukraine. I wanted to express again on the occasion of this general meeting our solidarity with those who are directly impacted by this crisis at -- on the borders of Europe. The group reacted. Our teams got mobilized. We had very few people in Ukraine or Russia, but we have important teams in neighboring countries, in Romania and Poland. We mobilized. I was impressed by that momentum of solidarity within the group. And the group and its foundation released financial means to allow our teams to undertake those actions of solidarity. This crisis has got an important impact for the group, as you can imagine. And we had to get mobilized in other regards other than the humanitarian aspects. We've got to diversify our sources of supply. Catherine and her teams are mobilized and working to meet these challenges. The DNA of ENGIE is one of public service. We want to be able to provide to our private and business customers with the energy they need in a reliable manner. Of course, as we said several times and I've got to -- and I will say it again in front of you, we respect and will strictly abide by the decisions made by the government regarding the relations with Russia. To be clear: We are an importer, an important importer, of Russian gas in Europe. We wondered about this situation and the possibility of continuing or not this activity, and we drew the conclusion that the impact of stopping our imports of Russian gas can't be made by no one but the government authorities or the European authorities. And so we are working on different, a set of scenarios, but we consider that the decision can't be made by a company. It's got to be made by the government or higher authorities because it's related to other decisions that's also the responsibility of the authorities. This crisis is going to have a lot of impact and in particular in Europe. It's going to make us rethink our energy model. And to accelerate the energy and climate transition, we've got to all be aware that it's never been as clear that the EU has got to strengthen and restore its autonomy whilst accelerating energy transition. And those 2 targets today are very much in-line. That illustrates, if need be, the relevance of the strategy chosen by the group. We have decided to invest massively in renewable energies, hydro, solar, wind, but also green gases, biogas and hydrogen, and in energy infrastructures. And we are placing ourselves at the heart of energy transition that is necessary to secure the future of our planet. And what is going to happen in the coming years will show the relevance of this strategy, and it's going to be an accelerator of the implementation of our transformation. I'd like to conclude by saying that's what mobilizes the group today, its general management, its executive committee, all of our employees but also all of our stakeholders. That's that role that we want to play in energy transition and climate transition. And again this general meeting will give you the opportunity -- will give us the opportunity to convince you of that. Maybe one last message to say, that this general meeting marks the end of my term of office as the Chairman of the group. I've been very happy to serve ENGIE as the Chairman of the Board. My term of office is submitted to renewal, and if you wish me to do so, I would be delighted to continue to serve the group in the next 4 years. Thank you. [Presentation]

Good afternoon, everyone. I'm happy to see you again 1 year after the presentation of our strategic road map. A few words of introduction. First of all, [ because ] Jean-Pierre Clamadieu reminded this to us, we condemn the invasion of Ukraine. And we are thinking very hard about the populations impacted. Many of our employees have mobilized to be of help, and I'd like to extend my thanks to them. It is true that, with this conflict, Europe is going through a major crisis. Some people are comparing this crisis to the oil shock of '73. And this is deeply changing the energy landscape and not only in Europe but at global level. We do see that this energy transition is in fact something that we will have to speed up. This will become necessary. And this acceleration of energy transition, to us, is the confirmation of our vision of a balanced energy mix relying on all the technology that is available. This transition needs to be robust, resilient. Every day, we are reminded how much the cost of this energy transition will be a key factor of its success. We must be pragmatic. We must capitalize as much as possible on what we have on the existing infrastructure while making strong choices when investing in low-carbon solutions, so the road map that we presented last year in this context seems all the more relevant to us. I'm very happy to share with you a few landmarks that we managed to go through successfully. Thanks to the mobilization of all the ENGIE teams and thanks to the members of the [ comex ], and some of them are present today, we managed to translate this strategic road map into concrete steps. And we made great progress. We decided to refocus geographically. We have exited about 18 countries. We also made progress in activities related to coal. And regarding EQUANS, it was mentioned earlier, it's a division that only was created in July last year. There are -- 74,000 of employees are involved in it. And it's going to join the Bouygues group during the second half of the year. This operation will make it possible for employees to have development and growth prospects. We also managed to commission 3 gigawatts of renewable electricity. And we were more selective in our investments also. We dedicated more than half of our CapEx to our growth priorities. We now have a new organization to serve a strategy based on our motivation to reinforce as -- our role as an industrial player. And we want to reach carbon neutrality by 2045. Now regarding our financial results in 2021. And Pierre-Francois will give you more details later. Of course, our performance was quite solid in 2021 with important increases, thanks to energy prices. Some of our activities have benefited from the energy prices, but it's also due to the professionalism of our teams. Operational performance managed to stay very high in spite of the great volatility of market prices for more than 30 years. This really shows the resilience of our integrated model, and I'll come back to that later on. Also, the Board of Directors reasserted the group's dividend policy, increasing the dividend by (sic) [ to ] EUR 0.85 per share. This performance is also reflected in our nonfinancial commitments. Accelerating the energy transition is part of our purpose. We are committed to achieving a net 0 carbon goal with several steps we want to go through. In 2021, we managed to reduce greenhouse gases linked to energy production. They've been reduced to 67 million tons, which is a decrease of 11% compared with 2019. In addition, the share of renewable energy in our portfolio continues to grows and accounts for 34% of our mix. Regarding gender balance, we want to achieve gender parity by 2030; and we have 25% of -- female managers. That's what we reached by the end of 2021. Now let me mention a few operational achievements. First, in Renewables, since the end of 2018, our renewable capacity portfolio has grown by more than 9 gigawatts, with 3 gigawatts commissioned in 2021 in spite of the fact that, of course, our business has undergone some disruptions because of the situation that you are well aware of. We also have -- thanks to [ your ] corporate PPA we signed into 2021, we have 2.1 gigawatts of capacity. We also signed in November a partnership agreement with Crédit Agricole assurance to acquire Eolia. And we also have an offshore wind joint venture with EDPR through Ocean Winds. And we continue to make progress in this fast-growing market with recent bidding wins in the U.S. and South Korea. Regarding our decarbonization activity, we have seen a revival of commercial development, with great achievements. Let me mention 2. First of all, the contract won for the management of the city of Paris cooling network, it's a good illustration of the recognition of our expertise, our experience and also our capacity to help this network grow. Another example is the contract we signed with Faurecia. It's an energy performance contract covering more than 100 sites worldwide, and the ambition is to be carbon neutral. So I think we can be really proud of what we've achieved over the past year. I'm very proud of ENGIE's employees' commitment. Thanks to this, we managed to make progress and to create the conditions to accelerate our growth. Now if we look at the 3 coming years and even if we look at the current situation, we see that many decarbonization requests are appearing. As I said, no -- there's no -- not one solution fits all. We are going to need several solutions to adapt to our clients' specificities by 2024, so I'm going to mention a few prospects, but I'd like to first mention the impact of the Ukraine crisis on our group. As a reminder: We are not operating neither in Russia nor in Ukraine, but of course, we have commitments vis-à-vis our customers. And they need gas for heating or for their industrial production, so in this context, we have started working on our strategy, supply strategy, to rely less on Russia. So we are diversifying our supply portfolio. For instance, we have more imports from Norway, Algeria, the U.S. And next winter, we are anticipating and we will fill our gas storage facilities. And we'd like to also work on increasing the capacity of our LNG terminals. And of course, we are getting ready for possible scenarios of a shorter -- of supply shortages and disruptions from Russia. We have high ambitions in terms of biomethane and renewable hydrogen too. In this unprecedented geopolitical context, we heard from the Belgium government, who decided to review its energy policy, extending 2 of our nuclear branches. This decision is coming a bit late. And it involves many constraints, feasibility constraints, implementations constraint also. And we have a clear goal. We want a balanced share of risk taking. And in the face of these challenges, I would like to talk about our integrated model, thanks to which we have unique assets and a privileged position in such a volatile and complicated environment. First of all, we are amongst the leaders in terms of renewable energy. We operate on all markets. We also have a flexible production portfolio, and this complements the renewable energies we're working with. We have storage facilities for gas, and they are key to guarantee this resilient and balanced energy mix. We also have a very high expertise when it comes to managing energy, which means that we have 3 components: first of all, the possibility to market the energy that we produce, including renewables. We also have the capability to be flexible, thanks to our portfolio. And lastly, and this is very important, we have a great risk management capacity too. And thanks to these 3 components, we have a competitive edge and we can grow in the field of renewables and also maneuver in this high volatility context. Thanks to this highly industrial approach and thanks to also the fact we are deeply rooted at local level, thanks to those 2 elements, this integrated model will help our customers go towards decarbonization of their activities, reducing their energy consumption; and have a greener energy use. We have ambitious goals. We have an 80-gigawatt target by 2030. We have a solid portfolio of projects, which you can see here, 66 gigawatts. And it gives credit -- credibility to our ambition that I just mentioned of 80 gigawatts. For ENGIE, renewables are also projects that involve territories. And we are building these projects hand-in-hand with all of the stakeholders because we are well aware of the fact that these projects need to be accepted from a social standpoint. So we need to work at local level too. Of course, in terms of gas, we are well positioned. We have renewable gases, which are key in the field of transport, for instance; and it helps with the resilience of our electric system. We have a great potential in terms of hydrogen and we want to contribute to helping this industrial sector grow. We have a goal of 4 gigawatts of renewable hydrogen used by year 2030. We want to use our 700 kilometers of network for hydrogen. And we have more than 100 charging stations for hydrogen mobility. Now in terms of investments, we have high ambitions. We are going to invest with a portfolio of robust projects, robust project pipeline EUR 15 billion to EUR 16 billion between '21 and '23. More than half of these investments are dedicated to our growth prospects. We want to be disciplined when it comes to allocating our capital. So ENGIE is well positioned for a sustainable growth, thanks to the investment plan I just described. We also have resilient infrastructures, and we expect our earnings to increase. Now let me quickly summarize the key messages I wanted to share with you today: very good results for 2021, a steady progress in the implementation of our strategic plan, more investments in renewable energies. And in spite of this unprecedented geopolitical context, we are going to keep focusing on our strong assets so as to reinforce ENGIE. What are these assets? Portfolio of assets; our expertise, our know-how; the fact we are locally, deeply rooted; and our employees, of course, their professionalism and their remarkable commitment. All these assets will help us speed up and make ENGIE a champion in terms of renewable energies and energy transition, of course. Thank you very much. Let me now hand over to Pierre-Francois Riolacci.

Hello, good afternoon to every one of you. And my thanks goes to Catherine for this magnificent performance. And I want to thank -- my emotion to participate in our general meeting, a first for me, all the more so as 2021 results are good. So [ it's almost so easy to ] start off and with good financial results. And obviously I'd like to thank all of our teams for the work they've done over the past year. And indeed, based on the road map that Catherine has just described, we've seen an implementation of the -- all 3 dimensions of the strategic plan: accelerating investment in renewable energy infrastructure; performance improvement based on operational excellence, optimization of support functions and reduction of loss-making activities; and the strategic priorities as to allocating capital and simplification by disposing off assets that are no longer strategic priorities. Now we -- in 2021, EUR 4.3 billion were invested. And more than 90% of our project activity is in line with our net 0 carbon commitment by 2045. And an important point, over 90% of these investments are organic development, so a confirmation of the ambitions, therefore, to invest between EUR 15 billion and EUR 16 billion over 2021, 2023. So by the end of 2021, more than half of the total ambition was already invested or committed. So a confirmation of our performance plan, a confirmation of the ambition, with a net contribution to EBIT of EUR 600 million over 2021, 2023. In 2021, this contribution amounted to just under EUR 100 million, in line with our expectations. And finally, simplifications. The volume of announced divestment has been raised to at least over EUR 11 billion now, from the previously announced EUR 9 billion to EUR 10 billion, thanks to high valuations. So in 2021, EUR 2 billion of disposals were finalized with the 11.5% of GRTgaz and a partial sale of our stake in GTT. By the end of 2021, over EUR 9 billion of disposals were already finalized or signed, including in particular the sale of EQUANS to Bouygues for around EUR 7 billion. So as you can see, objectives are clear, ambitious but realistic. And our progress is already significant less than a year after the presentation of the strategic plan. So whilst this strategy is rolled out, the financial performance [indiscernible]. And in the green, as you can see on the left-hand side, you have the main indicators of the profit and loss account and compares the -- well. Indeed 2019 was the -- a year marked with nonrecurrent items and was particularly impacted by the pandemic. In particular, EBIT corresponding to operating profit exceeded EUR 6 billion. Recurring profit from continuing operations approached EUR 3 billion. Net profit group share reached EUR 3.7 billion. So you can see on the table, on the right, a comparison to the year '20, so the -- and these indications, what are called the guidance, were revised upwards twice during 2021. So this is quite a significant performance indeed. Technical points. Following the entry into exclusive negotiations with Bouygues, so -- EQUANS has been accounted for, under IFRS, as discontinued operations. The contribution of EQUANS must therefore be [ reintegrated ] to obtain the figures in the total column, which compare with the 2021 guidance. As you can see, our 2021 results are at the top end of the forecast range. So what's key here is the EBIT with an organic growth by 42% or EUR 1.8 billion in organic terms. So the deterioration in exchange rates had a negative impact of EUR 94 million mainly due to depreciation of the Brazilian reais and the U.S. dollar against the euro. And the net negative currency effect of EUR 69 million in -- is mainly related to the disposal of 10% of GTT shares. So Renewables has performed well, plus 22%. That's plus EUR 208 million in 2021 mainly due to the positive price effect as well as the contribution of newly commissioned assets. The infrastructure recorded an organic increase in EBIT, plus 13%, EUR 267 million, benefiting from colder weather in Europe and increased contribution from infrastructure internationally. Energy Solutions, overall a stable contribution with a good business development and a healthy improvement in the performance but very much impacted by the losses of EVBox. The contribution of Nuclear amounted to EUR 970 million in 2021 after 3 consecutive years of negative contribution, a negative EBITDA of EUR 111 million in 2020. This performance is a result of a combination of higher [ received ] prices, so -- and better availability especially here in this field. However, this has been partially offset by the increase in plant-specific taxes in Belgium as required by law. And these taxes amounted to EUR 149 million in 2021. Finally, the contribution from the other activities improved significantly compared to 2020. And this improvement is mainly due to the strong commercial and trading performance of GEM, G-E-M-S, business; and lower corporate costs. So these good results allowed us to step out of 2021 with a solid financial structure. This is a more important [ endeavor ] in this period of crisis where cash flow [ are weighting ] a very important element for our resilience. [ So that's ] managed to maintain [ our vast ] financial structure. So net debt amounted to EUR 25.3 billion at 31st of December 2021. This is an increase of EUR 2.9 billion compared to the end of 2020. This increase is mainly due to the capital expenditure and dividend payment, [ partially offset ] by cash flow from operations and disposals. So we've had -- although our debt has increased, we retain a strong investment-grade credit rating, one of the highest in the industry, with a rating of BBB+ at standards and poor (sic) [ Standard & Poor's ], Baa1 at Moody's and A- at Fitch. We've improved our economic net debt-to-EBITDA ratio from 4x, a factor of 4x, to a factor of 3.6x between the end of 2020 and end 2021. This debt doesn't yet take into account the approximately EUR 7 billion that we'll benefit from when the sale of EQUANS to Bouygues is finalized in the second half of 2022. So the cost of the gross net -- so the gross net (sic) [ debt ] cost of 2.63% has increased. It was 2.38% in 2020. [ Finally ], ENGIE retains a robust balance sheet with EUR 21 billion of liquidity of cash by the end of December 2021, including EUR 14 billion of cash, so a good -- so key performance indicators and the good value creations which we will share with our stakeholders or shareholders. The Board of Directors proposed the payment of a dividend for the year 2021 of EUR 0.85 per share. So EUR 0.85 per share, up 60% on the previous year. This amounts correspond to a payout ratio of 66% of our recurring net profit group share, in line with our dividend policy. So this value creation also benefits from -- other stakeholders. Nearly -- so EUR 8 billion in remuneration, social charges were paid to our employees. EUR 39 billion -- nearly EUR 39 billion of purchases were made to -- with our trading partners. And finally, over EUR 3 billion paid to the state and local authorities in -- were paid in formal taxes where -- in the local authorities and states where we operate. So we get to solid development way beyond 2021, thanks to our growth investments, thanks to our productivity efforts. We expect, as indicated in February last, an operating profit and recurring net income group share over the next few years. In 2022, the operating results should reach EUR 6.1 billion to EUR 6.5 billion, bringing net result to a range of EUR 3.1 billion to EUR 3.3 billion. In 2024, these results are expected to increase to EUR 6.4 billion to EUR 6.8 billion and EUR 3.3 billion to EUR 3.5 billion for the net result, respectively. So we also aim to maintaining a strong investment-grade credit rating over the period. And finally, we confirm our dividend policy, with an aim of ensuring an attractive return to our shareholders with these payout policies between 65% to 75% of our recurring net profit. So the expected growth in our results should allow for growth in the dividend. And in order to preserve the visibility, [ as mentioned in this last year ], we are maintaining the principle of a minimum dividend EUR 0.65 per share. I'd like to conclude by sharing my confidence [ in the future of ] your company beyond the current international crisis which is obviously disturbing and major underlying trends [indiscernible] the relevance of our strategy; on one hand, society's increased demands for greater corporate responsibilities. And beyond this, governments' and nations' separate climate and societal issues and challenges are at the forefront. And this is a trend that ENGIE anticipated well, and so we are very strong with our industrial competence. And the commitment of [ same ENGIE ] is very well positioned to lead an affordable, reliable and sustainable energy transition. Thank you for your attention. And I'll turn the floor over to our auditors.

Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, good afternoon. On behalf of the college of statutory auditors composed of the firms Deloitte and EW -- EY, I'm going to report to you on our [ mission ] for the year 2021. In accordance with professional standards, objective was to obtain reasonable assurance that the consolidated financial statements of the group prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards, IFRS; and the annual financial statements of ENGIE SA prepared in accordance with French accounting principles were free of material misstatement. The closing of the accounts for the financial year 2021 and the audit took place both in France and internationally in a context marked by persistent COVID-19 health crisis, strong tensions and extreme price volatility on the energy markets, particularly in the second half. Our audit procedures for the operational entities and international coalitions were adapted accordingly. In order to ensure a good level of assurance, in the specific case of the situation in Ukraine and Russia, [ these social events, Russia event occurred ] in 2022 and does not impact the [ valuation ] of assets and liabilities for the financial statements for the year ended 31st of December 2021. Our approach and our work took into account the specificities in terms of business lines, regulations, risks, organization. And the international control system within the group have continued to implement its major strategic [ orientations ] over the period, leading to an adaptation of the segment information and sectorial information in the financial statements for the year. The group also continued to implement a disposal plan with, in particular, the promise to purchase EQUANS, by Bouygues, signed during the year, leading to the classification of this business scope in discontinued operations in the 2021 consolidated financial statements. The detailed findings of our work were presented to the Audit Committee and the Board of Directors. With agreement of the Chairman and the general management, I propose not to give you an exhaustive reading of our reports but to summarize the essential points in 3 stages. Firstly, a report on the consolidated accounts appears on Pages 341 to 346 of the universal registration document and highlights 3 key points of the audit: the valuation of the goodwill and other long-lived assets or long-term assets for which impairment provisions of 1 billion have been recognized to take into account events occurring during 2021. The assessments of provisions for the [ back-end ] full cycle management and also the decommissioning of those nuclear production sites in Belgium. And the third point, finally, related to the main estimates and judgments concerning [ the item -- the meeting ], in particular the metered energy and [ competition for gas sales ] in France under the government's tariff shield scheme. And the annual accounts is presented in 341 [indiscernible] with regards to ENGIE SA accounts. And we have a first comment point with regards to the estimate and judgment with regards to the turnover. And the second point is specific to ENGIE SA with regards to the estimate and judgment with regards to the assets for about 63 million -- EUR 63 billion. So we have in particular examined the main judgments and estimates made by the management as well as sensitivity to the structural assumptions made, ensuring that the notes to the accounts provide appropriate disclosure. We've also examined the overall presentation of the accounts and the quality of the financial information and performed specific procedures in relation to the publication of the annual financial report in accordance with the ESEF regulations. We've also ratified the presentation for the first time of the aggregates required by the European green taxonomy related to the eligible activities. Assessments are part of our audit approach to the final -- financial statements taken as a whole. They contribute to the formation of our opinion and allow us to certify without reservation that the consolidated and annual financial statements of ENGIE are compliant. Finally, we've also issued various reports, some of which relate to the resolutions submitted to your vote. This is the case, for example, of our special reports on regulated agreements and commitment on Page 183 of the reference document, which is the subject of the fourth resolution and which you are asked to vote; as well as the various reports [ reporting ] to the extraordinary general assembly on Pages 61 to 64 of the notice-of-meeting booklet that has been given to you. These reports relate to the operations presented in resolutions 16 to 27 of which you are called to vote [ and which had not called ] any observations on our part. The other [ reports on certificate issues ] without any corresponding resolution to be submitted to your vote concern in particular the reports on the [ extra-financial ] performance situation on selected social, environmental information. These various awards or certificates don't call for any particular remark, comments to be brought to your attention. Thank you very much indeed for your attention.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chosson, for your intervention as the spokesperson of the auditors. We're going to go to the fifth chapter of this general meeting, about the theme of governance. I'm going to share with you some elements relating to the works of the Board. And also we are going to look at the main resolutions. As for the Board, that was its composition in 2021: 14 members, equality between men and women, 60% of -- independent directors, calculated according to the rules. They met at 13 meetings and 100% of participation, so the directors are very loyal to the works. And so independent directors, including the Chairman: Catherine MacGregor; also Stéphanie Besnier, representing employees; 2 directors representing the state; and another employee representing the employees; and a director representing the shareholder employees. The Board [ wanted the ballots ] running this year. And as we normally do -- and Françoise Malrieu, the Chairwoman of the Nomination Committee, played an important role. We saw very positive aspects. As for the working of the Board, the Board, when I became the Chairman of the group, was composed of 19 members. We are now 14. So we -- it's a number that allows us to work efficiently. The dialogue with the General Manager is very direct and allows us to work in best conditions. Every year, we've got a strategic seminar. We spend 2 days together to get more into the businesses of group. And the strategic transformation that we have initiated, it is an important element at this seminar that contributes to the good working of the Board. And we have created another committee to prepare for the decisions of the Board regarding the sale of EQUANS, and [ it seems ] to us to be a good way to work. For 2022, we've listed some good resolutions to allow for the improvement of the running of this -- of the Board, in particular the will to follow up on the strategy of transformation of the group in alignment with the purpose of ENGIE. We have made systemic the investigations into the projects decided. And 2 or 3 years, we look at the [ way things have enrolled ]. It is an occasion to draw learnings, to draw lessons, climate subjects that the Board focuses on. And we have taken the initiatives some years ago to organize every quarter an information meeting which is about 1.5 hours, 2 hours. So we're not necessarily making a decision on this occasion. We spend time to really understand the subject relating to our activities or related to a theme like climate. And we will continue with that in 2022. And I could add one last point: Stemming from that assessment is the satisfaction to find ourselves together around a table, whereas for 2 years we had to work remotely which was efficient. It's allowed us to continue playing our role but which over time is not conducive to a full extent. But so we've got 4 committees, 5 if we take into account the other committee that I talked. 4 committees, and the chairmen and chairwomen of which appear on this slide. And everyone will report on the works of their committees. You can see on this slide there's the rate of participation and the main characteristics regarding the composition of those committees. You see that there's a high rate of participation and a high level of activities, 31 meetings of all committees to prepare for the 13 Board meetings we had last year. I would invite you to watch a short video regarding the committee chairs. [Presentation]

Thank you very much to my colleagues for their reports. I'm going to report about The Strategy, Investment and Technology Committee that I chair. It prepares for the works of the Board regarding the main strategic orientations of the group and the examination of external, internal growth projects, disposals, strategic agreements, partnerships. And those are the two main activities. And along this year, we've reviewed a number of projects relating to our investments in renewable energies. You've understood that this is our priority but also a number of projects of disposals or acquisitions. And when the items on the agenda justify it, we organize joint meetings with Marie-José to examine the strategic road maps. So as you now understand the way your Board works and how the committees support the works of the Board, I would like to look quickly at the resolutions to be submitted to the voting of this meeting. 28 resolutions approved by the Board. Two resolutions that have not been approved by the Board but that are submitted to your vote because they were submitted by shareholders who had enough shares to be able to submit them. The full text of these resolutions are on Pages 35 to 59 of the convening brochure and in the addendum on the first 15 resolutions. And the resolutions now, the meeting decides by a simple majority. The resolutions 16 to 27 of an extraordinary nature will be decided upon by 2 -- by majority of 2/3. So if we go through them -- 1 to 5, our traditional resolutions: allocation of the result, approval of the accounts and 2 resolutions that have been described by letters A and B. The Council -- the board, sorry, reasserted its dividend policy. The resolutions A and B proposed different positions regarding the dividend, and that's what led the Board not to approve of them. This is what I wanted to tell you. And I'm now going to give the floor to Françoise Malrieu, who's going to comment in more details the resolutions 6 to 14.

Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, I'm going to cover some information that has already been mentioned in the video that was played to you a moment ago. So first, in relation to Resolution 6. The council proposes the reappointment of the mandate of Mr. Jean-Pierre Clamadieu as -- I believe you have a brief of his since 2016. The Board of Directors has clearly indicated its intention to reappoint Mr. Jean-Pierre Clamadieu as Chairman once again. And so I would like now to invite him to take the floor.

Thank you, Françoise. I said in the introduction that I was proud to have been able to support as the Chairman of the Board this very nice group that as ENGIE, I know, would be very proud again to continue with this mission, if you wish me to do so. Thank you.

Thank you, Jean-Pierre. Let me now move to Resolution 7. The Board proposes the reappointment of Mr. Ross McInnes as Director. Ross McInnes, as was already said, brings to the Board the benefit of his experience with a number of listed companies internationally and his expertise in financial matters and in governance. And I invite Mr. Ross McInnes to the floor.

Thank you, Françoise. The Board of ENGIE, well, which I joined 4 years ago, demonstrated over the past few years efficiency and responsiveness activity. This is half of the topic. And that is its scope, appointment of company management, implementation of the strategy -- rollout of the strategy, definition of the strategy from the -- driven by the management over and above the decisive role that ENGIE has been playing in the energy transition within framework of global warming. All these reasons, if you grant me once again your trust, I'd be delighted to continue to contribute this collective project. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Ross. If we move now to Resolution 8. The Board proposes to appoint a new independent director, Madam Marie-Claire Daveu, who will bring to the Board her experience in corporate, social and environmental responsibility as well as her knowledge of governance and renewable energies. Let me now ask Ms. Daveu to speak to you.

Thank you very much, Chairman. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, in a few words, let me introduce myself. I was born and raised in Brittany. After being trained as an engineering [indiscernible], I was trained at the Paris-Dauphine University in public management. And then I started working -- and I started working in a [ marsh ]. In 2002, I had the opportunity to join Jean-Pierre Raffarin's cabinet to follow all the environmental and renewable energy files. And I was also working with ministers or Secretary of State with always a focus on renewable energies, the environment and CSR. In 2012, I joined Kering. Kering is a group, a very important player in the luxury industry, and it's a group that wishes to be a pioneer in CSR. So on a daily basis, I'm in charge of finding innovative raw materials. I'm working with startups, trying to reduce its environmental footprint. I'm also dealing with suppliers at global level. So if you agree to this, of course I will be extremely honored and pleased to be able to contribute and put my dynamism, creativity and my knowledge at the service of your company. I would be also delighted to take part in the development of this group and also its transformation. You've already adopted a wonderful strategy. There are challenges ahead that I am ready to take up. I thank you for your attention.

Thank you, Marie-Claire. And so at the end of this meeting and, of course, subject to your approval of resolutions 6 to 8 that we just covered, the Board at that point will be composed of 15 members, including 55% of them women and 64% independent directors. Furthermore, I would like to inform you that the mandates of the three elected directors representing employees have also reached their term. These are Mr. Christophe Agogué, Alain Beullier and Philippe Lepage. The electoral ballot has reappointed Mr. Agogué for the; engineers, managers and similar staff constituency. For the constituency of other employees, two new administrators have been elected. They are Mrs. Magali Viot and Mr. Yoan Kosnar. They have been elected for a period of 4 years. In other words, until the AGM of 2026 for approval of the accounts up to 2025. The Board wishes to salute Alain Beullier and Christophe Lepage (sic) [ Philippe Lepage ] , who have brought their skills, experience and human qualities to the work of the Board of Directors, Philippe Lepage for strategy and communications. Both of them were able to put their skills and experience at the service of the Board of Directors, and we thank them for their efforts. Let me now move to the so-called Say on Pay resolutions, resolutions 9 to 14. In accordance with the law and in order to allow you to issue differentiated votes, these -- there are 3 votes numbered 9 to 11 on Say on Pay ex post, and they relate to implementation of the remuneration policies for the financial year of 2021, whereas the 3 resolutions numbered 12 to 14 known as Say on Pay ex ante relate to the remuneration policies for the financial year 2022. These resolutions are part of a shared logic of moderation and a strong link with the social interests, the company's values and alignment with the interest of shareholders. I propose that we now review these resolutions in a little more detail relating to remuneration that has been paid -- or to be paid for the financial year of 2021, all of which are in line with the remuneration and compensation policies that you approved last year. The variable component of these resolutions will only be paid following their approval by this meeting. Whenever the law allows us to do so, the variable part of remuneration is structured in such a way to encourage financial performance but also extra financial performance in the short, medium and long term, in line with the raison d'être of the group. Resolution 9 sets out in particular implementation of the remuneration policy for directors for the financial year 2021 with a fixed part and a predominantly variable part that is linked to attendance. Resolutions 10 and 11 concern remuneration of Jean-Pierre Clamadieu and Catherine MacGregor for the financial year 2021 with payment of variable components of remuneration of the Chief Executive Officer being subject to your approval. Resolutions #12 and 13 relate to the remuneration policies for the directors and the Chairman for the financial year 2022, which remain unchanged. And finally, Resolution 14 relates to remuneration policy for the Director General for 2022. With regard to the amounts paid under these resolutions for the directors for their work in 2021, again which is covered in the ninth resolution, the total amount is EUR 819,222 gross taken from the maximum annual budget of EUR 1.4 million. This has been authorized by assembly. These sums were distributed among the directors in accordance with the distribution procedures set out in our internal regulations, which combine a fixed portion with a larger variable portion based on a director's attendance at meetings of the Board and the committees in accordance with the requirements of the Afep-Medef Code. Resolution 10 relates to remuneration of Jean-Pierre Clamadieu, Chairman of the Board, for the financial year 2021. This amount was EUR 450,000 gross for the year. In accordance with the requirements once again of Afep-Medef and the independence of the Chairman of the Board of Directors, the Chairman's remuneration does not include any annual variable remuneration or long-term incentive scheme. Resolution 11 relates to the compensation paid -- or to be paid to Catherine MacGregor, Chief Executive Officer, for the financial year 2021. Let me remind you that Catherine MacGregor does not have an employment contract. The elements for remuneration are as follows: annual remuneration per year of EUR 1 million gross and annual variable remuneration in the form of a bonus subject to financial and extra financial criteria, which is detailed in the table of, 65% and 35%, respectively. And finally, long-term variable component in the form of 110 -- 120,000 performance units that will vest in 2024 subject to and in proportion to achievement of the associated performance conditions. The Board of Directors, following a recommendation of the Nomination, Remuneration Governance Committee (sic) [ Appointments, Compensation and Governance Committee ], has set the achievement rate for 2021 of the financial criteria at 129% and for the extra financial criteria at 121%. Given the respective weightings of the financial and extra financial targets, the overall rate has been set at 126% being a variable portion of EUR 1.259 million gross for 2021. However, given the seriousness of accidents that occurred in 2021, as mentioned by the Chair of the Committee on Ethics and Sustainable Development, following the proposal from the CEO, the Board of Directors has decided that a reduction of EUR 150,000 gross would be applied to the bonus to be paid in 2022 in respect of 2021. This brings us to -- from EUR 1.259 million to EUR 1.109 million gross. That is for the year 2021. And I now turn to the pay policies for the year 2022. Resolutions 12 and 13 propose to continue the remuneration policies for the directors and for the Chairman of the Board of Directors, which I mentioned earlier, and suggest that they should remain unchanged. And finally, I will conclude with the remuneration for 2022 of Director General Catherine MacGregor. Fixed pay, your Board has decided to keep it unchanged, being EUR 1 million per year. The target annual variable proportion is also unchanged and amount to -- amounts to 100% of the fixed remuneration, being EUR 1 million, 100% -- for a target achievement rate of 100% with a maximum of 140% of the fixed remuneration, being a maximum level of EUR 1.4 million in the event of outperformance. It continues to be matched at a level of 65% -- according to 65% and 35% on extra financial criteria. To changes that are proposed to the nonfinancial criteria for the annual bonus, first of all the weighting linked to the frequency of accidents has been replaced by a criterion of marked improvement in safety performance assessed on the basis of a set of indicators, including the level of severity, the rate of frequency and the number of fatal accidents. Furthermore, the criterion of 35% recruitment rate for female managers has also been added. Finally, the Board of directors started to align the long-term incentive component of the CEO, which took the form of performance unit, with that of the Executive Committee members, senior managers and other employees who receive performance shares. This first stage of alignment has focused on the performance conditions of the performance units and performance shares. The Board wishes to complete this process of alignment by henceforth including the CEO in the performance share plan. This would replace the performance units that she has received up until now. The number of performance shares that would be granted to the CEO for 2022 would thus be identical to the number of performance units that she actually previously received, I -- that is to say a grant of 120,000 performance shares. Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for your attention.

Thank you very much, Françoise, for this very pedagogical presentation on what can be defined as [ HR ] topic. And moving along, I would like to hand it over to Ross McInnes to join us at length on stage to present a resolution on our strategy of climate transition of the group.

Thank you, dear Chair. And at the request of the Chairman, I present to you Resolution 15 on the climate transition strategy known as Say on Climate. So the Board decided to take the initiative of consulting you on ENGIE's Climate transition strategy, which was established in 2021 and as illustrated [indiscernible] of Catherine MacGregor. We've defined this strategy within the framework of the definition of the strategic road map of the group. And it is clear that energy transition is a key objective for the group, and I will come back to that. In submitting this resolution for your opinion, we've sought to strike the right balance between the French legal and regulatory constraints, that entrust the Board of Directors with the task of setting the strategy, and the desire of our shareholders to express themselves, which is quite legitimate. Let me remind you of the main elements of our climate strategy. They are being displayed right behind me. It is based on two major objectives: achieving carbon neutrality by 2045 for -- or across all our direct and indirect emissions for the 3 scopes, 1, 2 and 3. And furthermore, we are on a well below 2 degrees trajectory according to demanding methodology that is part of the SBTi. To do so, we've implemented 3 levers: the development of renewable strategies (sic) [ energies ] from 34 gigawatts in 2021 to 50 in 2025 and 80 gigawatts in 2030, as presented by Catherine earlier; the total phaseout of coal in Europe by 2025 and worldwide by 2027 -- early 2027, let me remind you that we are giving priority to the closure or conversion of our coal power plants; the greening of gas with 100% renewable and decarbonized gas by 2045. So in addition to this strategy, we've also made a point of greatly increasing the level of transparency that we provide both in terms of the monitoring of our indicators and results, which are reviewed by our statutory auditors, and how we are supporting to you on governance, internal processes around climate as well as in terms of taking climate into account through our remuneration policies, as Françoise has indicated in her presentation. I'd like to mention ENGIE's use of a binding tool to ensure compliance with its commitment: the carbon budget, indeed allocated to group's various operating entities and particularly for the preparation of the medium-term plan. It is geared to take decisions on basis that are not only financial. And this is accompanied with the monitoring of the carbon trajectory and the same as the quarterly financial performance. So to conclude with, ENGIE will report to you on the implementation of its climate strategy through a high level of transparency based on the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure, also known as TCFD. We'll come back to you if we need to change the strategy in the coming years. Thank you very much for your attention.

Thank you very much, dear Ross. It's a resolution that is important. We are part of a small number of groups listed in Paris that have made the choice to consult their shareholders about their climate strategy. It's a discussion of -- with main shareholders of group. It was a subject of discussion and there was a lot of interest. And sometimes, there were challenges expressed by those shareholders, and I hope that the results of the votes will be one of addition to the priority of the group. Its Board of Directors and its general management and its Executive Committee express with a lot of strength the importance of this priority. And it is also a priority for the employees. To conclude with the presentation of the resolutions submitted to your vote, we've got a number of financial delegations. I'm not going to get into the details. It's the resolutions 16 to 23. A word about the employee shareholding within the group, 24 to 27. In 2022, a new shareholding plan will be proposed to our employees. If you adopt this resolution, it will be called LINK 2022. The idea is to increase the share of the employees in the capital of group and share with the employees the results of this new road map. An employee -- the employees represent about 3% of the capital today. I suggest we switch to a more interactive part of that meeting after the different presentations. You now have the floor for a session of questions and answers. I said before 37 written questions got answers approved by the Board of Directors. Then online, we received -- well, 50 shareholders asked their questions on the platform. And we're going to start this question-and-answer session. I'm going to use, obviously, my colleagues to answer those questions. And we are first going to give the floor to the room. Well, to the panel A.

Two questions. The provisions for the dismantlement -- the decommissioning of the nuclear power plants, that's an amount that was reduced every year. What are the assets that are dedicated to the financing of the decommissioning? I'm not talking about the provisions, but the real assets. What are future production capacities planned to replace the two tranches that are going to be closed in a final manner? And if engineers manage to extend the two nuclear tranches to 2035, what is the lead time for the decommissioning? Is that going to increase the lead time? On our second question, we asked Mrs. MacGregor. To the 2 years of fixed salary in ENGIE shares, you put yourself a year of salary in ENGIE shares. But looking at the shares that a lot of independent directors have got, even Mr. Brégier, who's been there for 6 years, has got only the minimum to be a member of the Board of Directors. So the financial involvement of those people is not normal considering the income they get from ENGIE. So could we not pay a part of their salary in ENGIE shares or block as -- the funds just like is the case for employees?

Thank you very much. I'm going to start with the last question, the situation of Catherine and mine. Well, that doesn't justify any particular comments. As for the Board, there's a minimum number of shares to be held. We make sure it is respected. Everybody would have heard what you said and will judge what they should do. As for nuclear, Catherine, what is going to change the capacity? What -- if we manage to extend the life of those power plants, what could be the lead time? And could you answer also the provisions?

This is a very good question. Now by 2025 -- you asked a question regarding Belgium and the supply security. You know that ENGIE has been a historic player in Belgium and it greatly contributes to the supply, but we really are relying on what the Belgian government is going to do regarding the supply security, which should be guaranteed through a mechanism called the CRM. Sorry for the French jargon. And this CRM will be fueled by a few assets that exist today and other assets, 2 or 3 new gas power stations, for instance, with storage capabilities; relying on some imports also. And all comes back to the importance of the balance I mentioned earlier. And if the extension happens, the two nuclear power plants after this extension work will have an important role to play. And you know that we have a 5-year, very tight deadline. So today is 2022. If the decision is made to extend the plan, these power plants will be probably up and running 5 years from now. Do you want to say a few words on the provisions?

Absolutely. Provisions of nearly EUR 15 billion for the decommissioning and the processing of waste. So EUR 5.5 billion of assets have been financed, accumulated over the past years now under the aegis of the Belgian authorities, strict regulations of Belgian authorities. Now this is an asset management in line with the management of liabilities. So we are approaching -- this funding now stood at EUR 1.3 billion a year. That's going to be EUR 1.2 billion in the coming years. So the ramping up of this financing of these activities from 2025 will be 100% covered for waste and from 2030 for the decommissioning side.

Thank you. The penalty -- you've got to -- those who hold panels, maybe you should get closer to the people who want to ask a question. As -- it's now going to work this way. You've got to get closer to those who've got -- want to ask a question.

[indiscernible]. I'm an ENGIE shareholder. I have one question and one comment. Resolution 1 -- 3 that you are challenging, it would seem that this is about the dividends and -- to all. I understand that the interests of the state, which is the main shareholder, is to obtain a dividend. And the focus is on today's dividend as opposed to the viability of the company. And I think this is in the spirit that the Resolution 3 is challenged by any of us who've had to borrow money to pay out a dividend as requested by the state. I'd like to recall that the Board members have a responsibility vis-a-vis ENGIE, and this responsibility comes first. The desire of their employee are -- and I'd like to recall that some of the companies like EDF have been strongly impacted by their state of affairs and are ending up in very challenging circumstances. And today -- and you haven't talked much about the ongoing liabilities. And so I have more details on that. The short-term loan has gone up 35% and supplies and other receivables have gone to EUR 33 billion. And the financial investments have gone in excess of EUR 1 billion. So my question is, what are your outlooks for the next 3 years from a results standpoint?

Thank you. I'm going to give the floor to Pierre-François, but I'm going to react to your observation to say that, well, the image of a state would be very greedy is not a reflection of the momentum we feel on the Board of Directors. We've been looking for a number of years to have a dividend policy that is well balanced. That is, well, a good allocation between the available resources and -- for the company and the dividends. We pay attention to the dividend that our peers pay, especially the main players of the sector like Enel, and this is what drove us to adopt a dividend policy that is 65% to 75% of the net recurring income. We are in the lower part of that range this year. And it's rather reasonable and it's perfectly in line with the capacity of the group not only in terms of net income but also in relation to the cash. We can't continue paying a dividend whilst getting in that. But I think that, well, the Board does a good job, so -- via alternative resolutions. It was at the initiative of the employee mutual fund. It's an -- well, obviously an opinion that they are free to express to the wish to have a different dividend policy. But we did not approve of those resolutions. And this is for the first point. And Pierre-François, I'll let you comment on the next questions.

So current liabilities, yes, I'm delighted to see people who have grown an interest in the current liabilities. Obviously, we buy energy. We buy lots of energy in our business. And obviously, that, vis-a-vis our energy suppliers, including with regards to our gas suppliers, does go up. And when it does go up, we'll have an increase in operating position. And for the same reasons that when you have an asset-liability management, when prices go up, they tend to increase quite significantly in several tens of billions of euros in liabilities. And you saw that on the left of the balance sheet, that the assets have gone up significantly as well because all our clients' bills do go up. And these -- and same for the assets and derived products. And obviously, we have hence the situation of increased debt and increased operating income.

Panel A again.

Yes, I'm the Chair of [indiscernible], which is the association of the -- ENGIE's employees shareholders. First of all, I'd like to acknowledge your thanks to the employees of ENGIE's for their efforts over the past 3 years. This has been a very positive element in your communication. And I'd like to touch on, well, the fact that the employees' remuneration will be more aligned and -- so as to have a more stable shareholding structure. My question is about green gases. Now we highlighted the significance of green gases. And ENGIE can be a renewable player of significance in this major trend. A general directors has highlighted our strong ambitions there. I could not -- there could not be a [indiscernible] of green gases in France so that ENGIE becomes not only the company that pushes green gases for our clients to have concrete solutions brought about by ENGIE. So we need to go beyond our ambitions to be pioneer there, to be trade basis, as well as for partners to go beyond and stronger in these trends. Second question is about organic growth. In our strategy, we have stronger organic growth in Renewables and in Energy Solutions. And a characteristics of these commercial success is that this is made of a multiplicity of medium-sized businesses and goods and services. In terms of communication, this will be about showing that a big-order business will -- are pushed by lots of the smaller-sized successes now. And maybe now is the time to send some communication with regards to these topics.

Thank you. Very good questions regarding green gases. We absolutely agree with you. I think -- we think we have great potential with a difference in deadlines. For instance, biomethane. Methane is now -- especially considering the crisis hitting European countries, and French biomethane potential is huge. We forecast that by 2030, biomethane should reach about 100 terawatt-hours, which is considerable. Now this is the only renewable component that is ahead compared with others. So the dynamic is already positive. But you're right, we can always do better. We have to rely on bids. It's always possible to improve our industry and to also extend this approach to other European countries because other European countries have chosen a slightly different biomethane approach. So ENGIE needs to be almost a pioneer when it comes to biomethane with neighboring countries who will need to decarbonate gas that they strongly rely on. And then, of course, there is hydrogen and its derivatives. And ENGIE and other players are extremely active. We need to structure this new industry, this new emerging industry, and we have to look at all aspects of the value chain, not only the electrolyzers but storage also. We are performing tests using [indiscernible] air quality. Our infrastructure, production and marketing needs to be focused on also. And also, we have great potentials with e-methane, for instance, derivatives of hydrogen. If we can produce e-methane from renewable hydrogen, we'll have the same molecules as hydrogen today but decarbonized, which is quite promising when it comes to reusing all the infrastructure that we already have in France. We could reuse this infrastructure with a gas that would be 100% decarbonized. So we have great prospects. I think we are in a very positive dynamic. But considering the current situation, we need to speed up even more. And going back to your second question, it's a very relevant one especially when it comes to the business led by Cécile, Energy Solutions. We have a few contracts that have great value for our customers but also for ENGIE in terms of decarbonation. And we need to find maybe a better way to communicate on the results, the prospects, and explain how these projects that we are winning will contribute to ENGIE's future results. And we still have to work a bit here. But thank you for your question.

Thank you, Catherine. A Question from the Internet.

First question regarding renewable energies, the acceleration of -- or the development of renewable energies. Does this mean structuring acquisition for ENGIE?

Catherine.

It's very important to see that the 80 gigawatts I mentioned earlier is our goal, and it relies on a portfolio of projects that we have today that already exists. So we already have visibility of these 80 gigawatts. It's very important for us to realize that our growth today is mainly organic growth. And we think it's the best way to create value as an industrial player, as Jean-Pierre reminded earlier, from development to construction, operations, really throughout the whole value chain of renewables. So we need to keep investing mainly in organic growth so as to reach this 80-gigawatt goal. Now we also said that thanks to the refocusing of our group, we have more leeway than in the past. And any industrial group has to look at what's going on, on the market and seize any opportunity there may be. These opportunities should help ENGIE bring value as an industrial player. I think it's really something that we share with the rest of the council, Jean-Pierre, and I really want to invest and make a difference from an industrial standpoint. So of course, we need to be opportunistic and seize any opportunity that may come up. But 80 gigawatts is mainly organic growth.

Thanks a lot.

Hello. When you mentioned Stéphanie Besnier earlier, from a behavioral standpoint, it's been well. The league translated an issue. Can you tell us about the relationship you're entertaining with her and the state? I don't know whether she reminds me of Mrs. [ Crochette ] or these are assumptions. In any case, I'd like to know more. My name is [ Louis Augusta Callon ].

I'm not quite sure to what you allude to. Now the relationship with Stéphanie is very good. She's a Director. She was appointed by ministerial decree. She represents the state within our Board. And the state with the stake that it has, has got all legitimacy to be represented on the Board of Directors of ENGIE. And apart from one exception that was very much publicized, we are in -- well, generally, we're very much aligned within the Board of ENGIE whatever the mode of appointment of the directors. And as -- our objective is the development of the group, and we're there to defend the interests of ENGIE and of its stakeholders. So I don't whether I got a comment or if you raise your eyebrows. But Stéphanie isn't here because otherwise I would have asked to take the floor. She had another meeting to attend. Stéphanie is very -- a much appreciated partner of the members of the Board. I'm going to take the why question.

Hello there, Chair. I'm a bit surprised at the start of your presentation. Focusing on the war in Ukraine, you did not use the word -- this word. For you, it is a crisis. It is -- "it's a bit somewhat surprising." I'd like to talk about GTT. You've started selling off shares of GTT. So in view of the price in the stock market, that's been up 50% over the past 6 months. Are you intending to retain this residual stakeholder -- or shareholding? Was it for you a strategic stake that we should retain given the current context?

As for the first point, yes, there's a war in Ukraine. There's no doubt about it. There's an attacker. And I can't remember the term that I used, but there's no doubt in my mind. Obviously, it is a war. GTT, Catherine?

I just want to remind you that this is an incredible company. It's got a very unique and present technology that is almost indispensable today to equip a methane facility. So it's a company that has a very strategic role to play. And considering the importance of LNG on the global market, it has an important role that it plays also. When we thought about the strategic focus we had a year ago, we disposed of a few nonstrategic assets, and this was one of them. Now of course, it doesn't reduce the value of these companies. It's still very highly valued. And what we announced, i.e. progress on our nonstrategic disposals, is still valid. So we have residual participation. GTT is listed company, and what we did was really in line with what we announced.

Thanks a lot. I am going to take now a question from Room O.

[Foreign Language] to members of the Board. They are a bit of an innocent kind of scientific-focused questions. So lot of CO2 capture, any issues to store it and to lock it somewhere? Could the CO2 not be used as raw materials part of a blend, I don't know a mix to maybe turn it into a fuel. What do you recommend?

Well, Catherine started talking about that.

You're right, many e-fuels, as we call them, including e-methane, but also others that can be used in the air industry will have CO2 as an input. So they could benefit from a recycling of the CO2 that may be captured in other operations and other transformation processes.

I'm going to take a question from the Internet.

Internet question, what is the impact of stopping Nord Stream 2? And in Germany -- in U.K. won't that impact the EBITDA for 2022 and the net result of the group as well as the dividend policy?

[Foreign Language] to Francois.

No, this is a very short and simple answer. This is now on the Nord Stream 2. The pipe was not in service. There's no contribution to the EBITDA as a result and no impact whatsoever on our flow. There'll be an impairment. But this impairment will impact our net income, but not the EBITDA and even less the cash flow. And no impact whatsoever as to the impact of the inspection of the tranches. We can be led to think that at some point, there will be a discontinuation to be carried out on the tranches. If we were to extend it, we will need to discontinue this. But we're not too in this time frame. And this will be -- this will not be in 2022 or in the near future. So no impact until 2024, 2022, even if we were to discontinue this, this could be for an extended and smoothen out stoppage and discontinuation. So no better than there in terms of the impact on dividend.

Thank you to have reassured us. I'm going to take question A next to the A panel.

[indiscernible] to the French President proposing this program, the decommissioning and removing my mask. The decommissioning of wind farms, what is ENGIE's position on this topic?

Well, I clearly expressed myself about it in an interview that was published in the Figaro newspaper this morning. What does it take today is not to slow down energy transition or to go backwards, it is on the contrary, to accelerate. So I think that the proposal, the idea of decommissioning wind mills, unless, obviously, they are at the end of life, then when you've got to do it. But otherwise, I think it's just absurd and I'm convinced that we've got to move forward in energy transition. We've got to accelerate it in respect for all stakeholders. And Catherine said so in our presentation, our projects of renewable energies that have got to be integrated within their environment. But I think that the priority for us, that is ENGIE, but also France and Europe is to move forward.

Thank you again, on the other side.

I'm an ENGIE shareholder, so I have particular interest there. Now on the EBITD outlook for 2022, 2023, 2024, there's something that I can't get my head around. EQUANS, it seems, is still within the group scope. And so there'll be revenues there for this year. EQUANS will be sold at the end of the year 2023. We're going to have EUR 12.5 billion EQUANS sales while the EBIT remains the same. Does that mean that the current EQUANS EBIT equals to zero? Or are there businesses that will come and compensate the EQUANS EBIT?

Pierre-Francois?

Welcome in the sophisticated world of IFRS. So knowingly, I mentioned in the presentation these activities that are being discontinued. So the EQUANS activities in 2021 were taken off operating accounts in terms of EBIT and operating income. And you find it in the line, which is the non-continued activities, which is a contribution right at the bottom of the P&L. It means that when EQUANS -- in 2022, 2023, when we sell off EQUANS, there'll be no impact on EBIT because EBIT has already been reprocessed as early as 2021 with regards to the contribution of EQUANS' business. And this is the very purpose of this reprocessing. This is about making legible the comparison of the financial estate. And this is what we've done with regards to EQUANS.

Thanks a lot. I'm going to take question O.

Well, I have 3 questions. Number one, you've talked a lot about green gases, which are not very much referred to in as by ENGIE. What is your estimate actually of the share that could -- that these green gases could account for in as a replacement of the gas hydrocarbons. What will be their contribution with -- in terms of the gas mix? And you talked about the renewable as your production, so renewable, solar, wind and nuclear for decarbonized energy, what could be the share of these green gases within the electricity or the power production, which could be a renewable power production, if I'm not mistaken, if I understood correctly. And the final question is regard the nuclear in Belgium. I heard you said it were time frames that could not be further reduced for the decommission of the nuclear plants in Doe and Tihange if I'm not mistaken. So this would mean a stop to nuclear in 2025 and then a restart of this nuclear production in 2027. Is that the case? Is that what you described? These are my 3 questions.

Thanks a lot. I'm going to let Catherine answer. I would just like to make a comment. It's true that there are many people who talk about green gases as there should be. It is important that ENGIE expresses itself with strength, and it is important that our stakeholders in France, in particular, do understand the potential of green gases that very efficient means to contribute to energy transition, but also to the form of strategic independence, Catherine?

Yes. Let me start with a question asked on the nuclear energy. The extension of the 2 units requires about 5 years of work now. Can this work be divided into several stages? That's what we're going to work on with the nuclear safety authorities. This is really the #1 priority. Safety in the nuclear field is a #1 priority. We have to look at all the technical and technological issues, supply also to decide upon a work plan and see when these units can contribute to the Belgium supply security. But today, we don't have the answer to that question. We think that we should have 5 years of work. Now we'll -- we have the possibility to have operations before the end of this work. Only a detailed plan can answer this question. Now turning to green gases. It's absolutely clear that the potential of green gases will be quickly acknowledged more widely. Now for steel plants, for instance, that are going to use more decarbonated energy, they'll need massive quantities of green gas. So there's going to be a demand in green gases that is going to be so important that the industry will not be able to do without it. There will be a very high demand in green gases. You asked me for a few figures. Now in France, we reckon that they are 15% to 20%. That 15% to 20% of gas consumption could be replaced by green gas between now and 25, 30 years from now. So it will be a large amount. And these green gases can be used to produce electricity. Now when we talk about green gases, there will be different categories of gas. There will be biomethane, stemming from waste, hydrogen also potentially, pure hydrogen or hydrogen derivatives. And the more derivatives you use, the more uncertainty there is. Biomethane today is something that is sure because it's the same molecule as natural gas. Biomethane today can literally be used in all technologies using natural gas today. Now for instance, maritime transports that are equipped today with combustion systems, LNG engines, they can be equipped with bio LNG. So we have direct and immediate applications for these green gases, and this is what's going to boost the development of these green gases.

Thanks a lot. We're going to take a question from the Internet.

A question from a Belgian Internet user [indiscernible] from a Brussels-based shareholder.

Do you intend to come and meet us as your predecessor did, Mr. [indiscernible]. We hope we can look forward to seeing you in 2022.

Asked the other time, and I said, yes, but that was the last time we had a physical meeting. But because of the different lockdowns, we never could organize that event. But Belgium obviously is very important for us. We've got some changes to face that and problems to solve. And in terms of shareholding, it's the second country after France. So I take the commitment to organize a search a meeting in Belgium by the end of the year, with pleasure. And if Catherine wants to come with me, it'd be great. I'm going to take the question Y.

[indiscernible] your shareholder. I will not talk to you about green gases, but do you not think that given the conflict between AU and Russia, it would be a good opportunity to get closer to the [indiscernible] energy that has been exploiting mine gases and why EY Energy has been choosed lately allowing to operate waste gas, I don't know if these can be regarded as green gases. And then second question is, I know you're here. Well, enterprise railways concerned, ENGIE Services, ENGIE Solutions, have you got any perspective in terms of railway operations, it was a cooperative company, a collector of common interest like copper and has been attempting to operating services between [indiscernible]. I'd like to be pioneers in this field. And this corporate teams would really need a partner like ENGIE or Air Liquide for their hydrogen-powered traction.

Well, Catherine will confirm, but I will answer. For gas today, any options for diversification is a good stake. And in recent weeks, there was more communication about mining gas in the North or the Eastern front. It is something that could contribute modestly, but could contribute to the diversification of our sources of supply. And when you talk about landfill gases, it's very close to what we were saying before. Now the question that may be asked is mining gas a green gas. There are specialists who're brought on the subject. It's the moment that may, at least, contribute to diversification. And I like -- will let Catherine answer.

It's true that we have a very important activity in terms of catenaries, and this activity will stay with EQUANS, and we'll go to wager later on this year. Now regarding our businesses to decarbonize trains, especially those running with diesel, and we still have a lot of those, we're very proud of our partnership announced with Alstom. We will use hydrogen for freight, train freight, and this will be interesting. We have to see if the Alstom services can be applied on the slide.

Since I've announced by 2032, '33, the final stop to the use of diesel engines. So there's potential there. Are there any other questions in the room? I can't see any panels. Yes, there's one there.

I'm going to change the topic. I'll come back to the remuneration policy. You've alluded to go to concept. Concept 1 was driven by performance. And then the action related to performance. What's the difference between the 2?

It may seem to be a bit theoretical, the performance shares that we give someone, performance unit, it's a monetary equivalent. And that varies according to the value of the share. It's rather complex. The group in past that is not that recent, I decided to give to the general manger not performance shares, but performance unit. It's the same impact, really, even though it was treated differently from a tax point of view. And it fits just like Pierre-Francois was saying useful that general management received the same medium as the other employees of the group benefiting from such a system. So there will be no more performance units. I'm going to take the question V.

[indiscernible] individual shareholder. Two questions. You mentioned hydrogen in transport. How do you ascertain stability of hydrogen? And then earlier, you mentioned filling up the tanks before winter. Can alternative branches provide more? What about the method now Airbus in terms of supply?

As regards hydrogen, we are still studying this for our applications in the railway industry. But we should use a liquid state, which should remain stable. I think the temperature goes up to 250 degrees Celsius, it is quite cold, but we would keep the hydrogen in a stable phase. Your second question was on the import capacity of short-term G&L. Today, we're looking at all the infrastructures. And we're trying to debottleneck the import terminals, but also the transport and we're trying to work on regasification. We're looking at all aspects throughout the chain. We're trying to increase our capacity while working with all the players. Let me give you an example that could be a solution to regasify an offshore facility, offshore of the city of [indiscernible]. Now ENGIE is one of the several players taking part in this initiative. This should help improve the G&L short-term import capabilities. But of course, this is the medium to long.

Thank you. Thanks a lot. And to complement what Catherine just said, we will see in April in Europe a record number of LNG ships. This is something that can reassure us in the short run. A question from the Internet.

Question on the share price. How do you explain how low it is? And at what point do you expect it to?

Difficult question. Well, I've got to be careful before I comment on the share price. But I would share a number of elements. The first is that after the announcement of our strategic plan and the arrival of Catherine and the strategic directions taken by group, we saw favorable momentum about our share price. But it's true that the Ukrainian war made a whole self questions appear about the exposure of the group to the situation created by this conflict. We started answering questions as clearly as possible, but it's true that has made vision of a number of our investors less clear, and that translated in a negative impact on the share price. So I will not plan a new takeoff or make any predictions, but we need to give explanations about our exposure to the energy situation because of this crisis, we need to show clearly what can be the impact on our results, and we will have the opportunity when we publish the results of the first quarter. And this crisis doesn't question our ambition to implement our strategy. I can only tell you that Catherine and her team, but also the Board of Directors pay a lot of attention to this situation. We try to share with the market as clearly as possible elements that will allow to value -- to assess the value of ENGIE as it should be. Are there any other questions in the room? Yes, Mr. A again.

Yes, again. I'm just wondering about the wind farms and other solar farm eventually will be massively buying and a number of those are already in operation or reached their end of life. This is stuffed -- all of this is stuffed with rare earth and rare materials. What about recycling and reuse? Has this been thought through, considered? What about the efficiency and the price of this?

Yes, this is a key topic because when we commit in terms of CSR and environmental responsibilities on the carbon releases, we have to look at our direct and indirect policies and hence our procurement. And we are being more and more professional because it's important in terms of the commitments that we took. Now regarding wind turbines, we have partnerships with our suppliers to have a look at the whole development chain and the life cycle of our wind turbines to make sure that we have the most responsible wind turbines possible in terms of metals, their origin, their recycling, the end-of-life aspects and all the environmental aspects linked to these wind turbines. So we have initiatives, and it's a topic we are focusing highly on. And we're actually testing the first wind turbines that are 100% recyclable to be part of virtuous cycle. So it's a very important subject that we are working on. And I think we're only at the beginning of the rolling out of methodologies that are in line with what we should do.

Thank you. As we are getting to the end of this session, I'm going to take one question again from the room, Mr. S.

I would like to ask a question on the expected performance for the investments that we are making in comparison with in light of the EBIT performance of the disposals that we've been carrying out. Is this continue to [indiscernible]

Pierre-Francois?

Yes, indeed, when we have a disposal program on the size of the [indiscernible] that is normal to wonder about this in terms of capital allocation. As you know, the yield that we are expecting from the Ohenolob, which is our big major investment unit, we're talking 1.5x our capital expected yields. Depending on geographies, technologies and [indiscernible] we're talking between 7% and 11%. These are the kind of yields that we are expecting, that we're looking at. And obviously, this is impacting ourselves favorably, our income favorably. You've noted that many are now do not generate a significant margin. However, our policy is led by growth investments, yielding the results that will be significantly greater to the assets that we're disposing of. So it means that renewable activities is very much capital-intensive. And when it comes to actual investment, this is shared by the -- all of the stakeholders of [indiscernible]. And so the yield will be greater than existing. And we have an ROI greater than 9% in 2021. Our target is to maintain this beyond the 10% mark. This is our vision. This is in spite of considerable investments, we are in a profitable asset rotation situation.

And you can see this in the figures. If you look at the 2021 strategic plan, 2021, 2024, you see that the expected contribution in terms of investments is about EUR 1 billion and the dilution due to the disposal is EUR 3 million. So this is in our figures. Infrastructures do contribute to a great extent. You're right.

One last question from the Internet.

Are you going to honor your commitment and subscription?

This is an important question, Catherine?

Of course, we are a reliable and responsible suppliers, so we will honor our commitments.

To the Internet users, thanks a lot for this question-and-answer session, we covered a lot of subjects. It was a complementary between the Internet and the room. It was quite dynamic. And so I suggest we go to the last part, but it is a very important part. This is when we're going to ask you to express yourselves by votes. So 18,000 shareholders, I've been told, well, about 300 in the room. So 18,000 shareholders representing either by themselves or by a proxy have expressed themselves. So we've got a quorum of 1,719,000,960 shares. That's 70 -- 94% of the shares with voting right. So that's better than last year's 68.9%. So we'll continue and try increase that number. Having specified that, I'm going to ask Claire Waysand to put the resolutions to the vote.

Thank you very much. It is now time for us to vote on all of the resolutions that were presented to you previously by Jean-Pierre Clamadieu, Ross McInnes and Françoise Malrieu. So voting will be done using the electronic tablet that was handed to you when you signed in. The result will be reviewed immediately or a few seconds after each vote on each resolution. For each resolution, you have 3 options: you may vote for, you may vote against or you may abstain. Before we move to voting proper, we are going to play a short film explaining how to vote using your tablets. [Presentation]

Right. So resolutions 1 and 2 relate to approval of annual accounts. Firstly, the annual accounts for financial year 2021, voting is now open. [Voting]

Voting is now closed. This resolution is adopted. Moving to resolution number 2 on approval of our consolidated accounts for financial year 2021. Voting is now open. [Voting]

Voting is closed. This resolution is adopted. Resolution number 3 allows you to approve the distribution of the dividend of EUR 0.85 per share as well as increase of EUR 0.08 for nominative shares for the same shareholder for at least 2 years as at 31st of December on 2021, still registered when dividend is paid on 27th of April. Let me remind you that in the event of adoption of resolution 3, assessing this EUR 0.85 per share, resolution A submitted by Link France FCPE as an alternative to resolution 3 reducing the dividend by [ EUR 0.5 ] per share, this will automatically be considered as rejected. Voting is open. [Voting]

This resolution is now adopted. Let us now look at resolution B, which supplements resolution number 3. This is tabled by FCPE Link France, which represents 1.7% of capital and 2.4% of total voting rights. As mentioned previously, the Board of Directors has not backed this resolution, which runs counter to the group's dividend policy, which is based on a range of 65% to 75% payout ratio on the basis of the group's share of recurring net income with a cap at EUR 0.65 per share. Voting is now open. [Voting]

Voting is closed. This resolution is rejected. Resolution 4 allows you to approve the terms of the statutory auditors' special reports on agreements concluded previously, and these effects have continued into 2021. These are regulated agreements. They are mentioned in the special report of the statutory auditors and features in the universal registration document on Page 183. Voting is now open. [Voting]

Resolution 5 allows you to give the Board of Directors a new authorization to buy back shares in the company. The maximum number of shares may not exceed 10% of the total shares making up the company's capital. Voting is now open. [Voting]

Voting is closed. This resolution is adopted. Resolutions 6 to 8 relate to composition of the Board. Resolutions 6 and 7 will allow you to express your opinion on the terms of office of Mr. Jean-Pierre Clamadieu and Mr. Ross McInnes as directors. The resolution number 6, renewal of the term of office of Mr. Jean-Pierre Clamadieu. Voting is now open. [Voting]

Voting is closed. This resolution is adopted. Resolution 7 relates to the reappointment of Mr. Ross McInnes as director. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed. This resolution is now adopted. Resolution number 8. This gives you to appoint a new independent Director, a woman, Ms. Marie-Claire Daveu. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed. This resolution is adopted. The next resolutions 9 to 11 and 12 to 14 relate to pay more remuneration. Resolutions 9 to 11 are subject to an ex post vote of the shareholders in accordance with the commercial code of France. You are asked to approve remuneration awarded to the corporate offices as well as to Mr. Jean-Pierre Clamadieu, Chairman of the Board of Directors; and Ms. Catherine MacGregor, Chief Executive Officer for the financial year 2021. These items have been set out in Chapter 3 of the notice of the meeting brochure on Pages 17 to 21 and in Section 4.4 of the Universal Registration Document. Resolution 9 relates to approval of remuneration paid in 2021 or awarded in respect of financial year to the corporate officers. Voting is now open. [Voting]

Voting is closed. This resolution is now adopted. Resolution number 10. This relates to approval from remuneration paid in 2021 or awarded in respect to the financial year 2021 to Mr. Jean-Pierre Clamadieu, Chairman of the Board of Directors. Voting is now open. [Voting]

Voting is closed. This resolution is adopted. Resolution number 11, relating to approval of remuneration paid in 2021 or awarded in respect of financial year 2021 to Ms. Catherine MacGregor, Chief -- Director General. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed. This resolution is adopted. Resolutions number 12 to 14, so-called anti-resolutions allow you to approve the principles and criteria for determining the distribution and allocation of fixed variable and exceptional components of the total remuneration and benefits of any kind attributable to the directors and to each Executive Director of Corporate Officer. This constitutes the remuneration policy for them. These items that were decided upon the Board of Directors meeting on the 14th of February 2022 are presented in Chapter 3 of the notice of meeting brochure on Pages 22 to 26 and in Section 4.4 of the Universal Registration Document. Resolution number 12, approval of the remuneration policy for the directors. Voting is open. [Voting]

This resolution is adopted Resolution 13. Approval of the remuneration policy for the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Jean-Pierre Clamadieu. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed. This resolution is adopted. Resolution number 14, this relates to approval of the remuneration policy for the Director General, Ms. Catherine MacGregor. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed. This resolution is adopted. Resolution number 15. This is the say on climate resolution that was presented by Ross McInnes. The Board of Directors wish to consult you on the guiding principles of your company's climate transition strategy described in Chapter 4 of the notes of the meeting brochure. This consultation of the resolution 15 is purely advisory. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed. This resolution is adopted. Let us now move to the extraordinary part of the general assembly, resolutions 16 to 20. These resolutions allow the Board to issue shares and/or composite securities only outside periods of public offers for the company's securities. This set of resolutions would supersede those of the 2020 general assembly given that the latter were not used. These resolutions give the Board the necessary flexibility to issue more suitable offers in line with market opportunities. The capital increase that may result from such issues is limited to EUR 225 million in nominal value. It's being specified that this amount is common to resolutions 16 to 20. Resolution number 16. Renewal of the authorization to issue shares and/or securities with preferential subscription rights. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed. This resolution is adopted. Resolution number 17. Renewal of the authorization to issue shares and/or securities without preferential subscription rights. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed. This resolution is adopted. Resolution number 18. Renewal of authorization to issue shares and/or securities without preferential subscription rights to qualified investors or to a limited circle of investors within the limit of 20% of capital. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed. This resolution is adopted. Resolution number 19 allows the Board to increase the amount of issues carried out pursuant to Resolution 16, 17 and 18. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed. This resolution is adopted. Resolution number 20. Renewal of authorization to issue shares and/or securities as consideration for contributions of securities granted to the company up to a maximum of 10% of share capital. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed. This resolution is adopted. Resolution 21 set the overall ceiling for delegations and capital increases made under Resolution 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20. And resolutions 25 -- 24 and 25 setting that 265 million is nominal value. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed. This resolution is adopted. Resolution 22. This allows the Board of Directors to increase their share capital by capitalization of premiums, reserves, profits and other items. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed. This resolution is adopted. Resolution 23 allows the Board to cancel all or part of the shares acquired under the share buyback program and to reduce the share capital up to a maximum of 10% of the share capital per 24-month period, which were out into to compensate for the dilution resulting from capital increases. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed. The resolution is adopted. Resolutions 24 and 25 allow the Board of Directors to encourage employee shareholding in the group, we've talked about this today, both in France and abroad. The issue price of shares may not be less than the average quoted price of ENGIE shares over the previous 20 trading session preceding the date of the decision setting the opening date of the subscription period, less a discount that may not exceed the maximum discount authorized by the legislation in force at the time of implementation of this measure. The requested authorization is limited to 2% of capital. Resolution 24, authorization of issues reserved for employees to our members of ENGIE Group's company savings plan. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed. This resolution is adopted. Resolution 25. Authorization of issues reserved for category beneficiaries in the context of implementation of international employee shareholding plan of the ENGIE Group. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed. This resolution is adopted. Resolutions 26 and 27 allow the Board to allocate free shares in order to foster the employees' sense of belonging employee engagement and to involve them more closely in the development of the group for all employees and for corporate offices of companies of the ENGIE Group, except the corporate officers of ENGIE itself and the employees participating in an international employee shareholding plan of the ENGIE Group. That is Resolution number 26. Some of these, including executive corporate officers of ENGIE, for who the allocations will be subject to performance conditions detailed in the brochure on Pages 56 and 58. That is the Resolution number 27. The number of shares granted would be limited to 0.75% of share capital with an annual subceiling of 0.25% of the share capital. These would be existing shares. Resolution 26. Authorization to grant free shares to all employees and corporate officers of the companies, the ENGIE Group with the exception of officers of ENGIE and to employees participating in an international Employee Share Ownership Plan of the ENGIE Group. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed. This resolution is adopted. Resolution 27. Authorization to grant free shares to certain employees and corporate officers of companies in the ENGIE group, including the executive corporate officers of ENGIE. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed. This resolution is adopted. Finally, resolution 28, the last resolution. This allows us to complete all of the formalities required by all following the general meeting. Voting is open. [Voting]

Voting is closed. This resolution is adopted.

Thank you very much, Claire. Thank you, Catherine, Pierre-Francois. Thank you all for your patience, the patience to stay until the end of this meeting, also for the quality of the interactions we've had. I remind you that the replay of this general meeting will be freely available for 2 years on the ENGIE website. For those who came here, small gift. We are offering to you a connected soccer marketed by our subsidiary, Tiko Energy Solutions, committed to your energy savings. I look forward to seeing you next. Goodbye. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]