The French justice system partially condemned Totalenergies this Thursday for greenwashing, considering that it had committed deceptive commercial practices when communicating its “ambition to achieve carbon neutrality” and “to be an important player in the energy transition”, according to this long-awaited ruling handed down on Thursday.
The Paris court ruled that Totalenergies, the fourth largest Western oil and gas group, had committed “deceptive commercial practices” by communicating its “ambition to achieve carbon neutrality” and “to be a major player in the energy transition”, thus partly vindicating the NGOs Greenpeace France, Les Amis de la Terre France and Notre Affaire à Tous, which had brought civil actions before the courts in 2022.
“An important legal precedent”
This is the first conviction for greenwashing of an oil company in the world for the way in which it presents its climate commitments, says the NGO ClientEarth, which closely follows the jurisprudence against the oil and gas industry. Greenpeace welcomed “an important legal precedent against climate disinformation from Big Oil.”
The associations had posted around forty messages in the group’s communication campaign deployed since May 2021 on its website, in the press, on social networks and on television. At the time, Total had just changed its name to Totalenergies to underline its ambition to be “the company of all energy”, from oil to wind and solar electricity. The group then announced its goal of “carbon neutrality by 2050, together with society” and praised gas as “the fossil energy that emits the least greenhouse gases”, despite its questioned climate record due to methane leaks, which greatly warm the atmosphere.
The consumer is “deceived”
The Paris court found that the company Totalenergies had made environmental claims that “could alter consumer purchasing behavior” and “deceive” them into believing that it could achieve “carbon neutrality” by 2050 while increasing oil and gas production, according to a press release.
The court ordered the group “to stop disseminating the misleading communication, granted compensation for the non-material damage suffered by the plaintiff associations and ordered the publication of the decision on the group’s commercial site,” according to the statement.
Furthermore, it rejected the associations’ requests regarding Totalenergies’ environmental claims, which they considered exaggerated in relation to gas and agrofuels. The court considers that such messages cannot be considered consumer advertisements “in direct connection with the promotion, sale or supply of energy by the TE company to consumers.”
Source: BFM TV
