TotalEnergies target of lawsuit to test ‘greenwashing’ in advertising
Oil and gas group TotalEnergies is the target of a test case brought by campaign groups over “greenwashing” in advertising, that would have implications for how companies communicate their climate plans.
The legal action by a group of non-profit organisations, led by Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Notre Affaire à Tous and ClientEarth, is centred around the rebranding from Total to TotalEnergies.
The claim says that the advertising campaign breached European consumer protection law because it misled the public about the group’s commitment to be “carbon neutral” by 2050, even though TotalEnergies is planning further investments in fossil fuel projects.
The case sought to challenge the oil and gas major’s decarbonisation claims and set a standard for “the definition of net zero in ordinary understanding,” said Jonathan White, from ClientEarth, the environmental law charity that is supporting the case.
TotalEnergies was “using sly propaganda to try to convince us of the impossible: that carbon neutrality can be reached while producing and selling ever more fossil fuels,” said Clara Gonzales, legal counsel at Greenpeace France.
TotalEnergies responded that it was on track to meet its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, and the allegations of greenwashing were false.
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The proliferation of corporate net zero emissions plans, on rising concerns over global warming risks, has prompted scrutiny of the variety of commitments being made in the absence of global standards.
The latest case adds to the growing volume of climate litigation involving both public and private sectors. The non profit monitoring group CDP last month reported “a steady increase in the number of companies disclosing potential substantive litigation risks, almost quadrupling since 2018”.
When Total rebranded as TotalEnergies last year, it said it was committed to “producing and providing energies that are ever more affordable, reliable and clean” and becoming “a world-class player in the energy transition”.
It launched a global marketing campaign to promote the name change, including the Twitter hashtag “#MoreEnergiesLessEmissions” and information about how it was “adapting to meet the climate challenge”.
The claim against TotalEnergies alleges that it had breached the ban on misleading practices under the European Unfair Consumer Practices Directive.
Reaching net zero emissions “implies a sharp reduction in [TotalEnergies’] greenhouse gas emissions and therefore a significant and constant drop in its production of oil and gas,” it said. Yet the company planned to maintain oil production and increase gas production, the filing said. Plans include the development of a controversial multibillion-dollar oil project in Uganda.
“Just as tobacco manufacturers misled people about the link between cigarettes and health, TotalEnergies’s advertising acts as a smokescreen for the harm it is causing to the planet,” said Gonzales.
A ruling in the case is not expected until next year.