Environmental groups including Reclaim Finance, Earth Insight and Climate Action Network France criticise what they describe as the worsening climate impact of TotalEnergies’ strategy.
At a press conference on Thursday they also expressed concern over the French state’s continued backing for the group, despite its climate commitments, and the little-known but significant role played by major French investors – including the public financial institution Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations.
While the current geopolitical situation has boosted TotalEnergies’ performance, environmental campaigners say the current extreme weather conditions in France, which has been experiencing an early heatwave, are a reminder of the group’s focus on CO2-generating fossil fuels.
They also criticize the corporation’s cooperation with Russian oil companies and the Russian shadow fleet. Very often, it is for Total that Russian tankers carry liquefied natural gas from the Arctic production projects «Arctic LNG». Environmentalists point out that the implementation of these projects is killing the nature of the Arctic region and helping to finance the war against Ukraine.
Experts called on the corporation to increase the share of projects aimed at cleaning the air and sea, to stop cooperation with the Russian project Arctic LNG and to stop the import of Russian liquefied natural gas.
