Paris court rules Imperial partner TotalEnergies’ advertising is illegal greenwashing
The carbon major's advertising around its commitment to the energy transition and net zero target was found to be illegal as they continue to expand oil and gas production.
On 23rd October, a Paris court found that TotalEnergies’ advertising was illegal greenwashing. Total is based in France and has emitted more than 17,000 million tonnes of CO2e since 1934.
The civil court found that Total misled the public in a 2021 ad campaign which claimed it could become carbon neutral by 2050, even though the company planned to continue expanding its oil and gas production.
However, Imperial found Total’s net zero target to be credible under the last round of assessments of the Imperial Zero Index (IZI), and therefore continues to work with the company. The IZI is a set of metrics developed by Imperial to assess which fossil fuel companies it should partner with. A 2050 net zero target is the only compulsory metric under the IZI.
Despite citing a study which says the fossil fuel industry’s claims are likely greenwashing alongside other evidence, assessments of whether a fossil fuel company is actually likely to meet their targets and not merely greenwashing don’t appear to factor into the Index. Metrics are largely based on the fossil fuel companies’ annual reports.
Ida Caspary, a student representative on the Socially Responsible Investment Engagement Monitoring panel, which approves the results of the IZI, said “it [the ruling] is obviously grave.” She continued, “Our methodology probably should not just look at what companies promise, but also when they have been found saying things that are not true.”
Julia Mitra, Union Ethics and Environment Officer, added “I also feel that a ruling like this shows a massive problem with the IZI relying on the promises of these companies, which have quite bad reputations of actually delivering on sustainability goals.” Mitra said “I would love to see disengagement from TotalEnergies on the back of this ruling,” concluding “I don’t see how they can be considered in line with Paris [COP21], no matter what strategy they might be promising.”
The ruling is not public but has been covered by several outlets including ClientEarth, Reuters, and the Financial Times.
