France’s TotalEnergies said on Thursday it would take legal action after environmental group Greenpeace France said it had under-reported its carbon emissions in 2019.
Greenpeace France earlier accused the oil giant of under-reporting emissions, sparking a debate about its seriousness in the fight against climate change days ahead of the next round of global climate talks.
Criticizing a lack of transparency, the campaign group said TotalEnergies’ core activities had generated around 1.64 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2019, against 455 million showed by the firm in its carbon balance.
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Greenpeace France also found Scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions – or the company’s direct emissions – of about 160 million tonnes, which TotalEnergies described as “fanciful and false” as it said it had reported 55 million tonnes only.
“The Greenpeace report follows a methodology that is dubious to say the least,” TotalEnergies wrote in a statement.
“With regard to information concerning the quality and reliability of the information published by TotalEnergies on its direct greenhouse gas emissions which it has under control, the dissemination by Greenpeace of misleading information in this matter is serious,” it added.
As a result, TotalEnergies said it had decided to take legal action to “repair the damage.”
Greenpeace France, which stated it had based its own calculations on publicly available production and trading data, said it was “fully ready” to engage in a judicial debate.
“Rather than responding to the substance of the problem, that is to say the weight of its responsibility in the climate crisis, TotalEnergies chooses the path of intimidation and legal attack,” head of Greenpeace France Jean-Francois Julliard said.
“It seems obvious that the major hides part of its emissions from the general public and its investors,” Greenpeace France said.
The environmental group said it had shared its findings with France’s AMF market regulator, which declined to comment.
The oil major said Greenpeace France’s calculation “counts the emissions related to the combustion of products in each value chain several times.”
The group, which has been emphasizing a shift away from hydrocarbons as it pledged to be “net zero” by 2050, is facing criticism from climate activists and some investors for continued investments in oil and gas projects.
Greenpeace France pointed to the company’s planned East African Crude Oil Pipeline and its liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique, which it described as “climate bombs.”
TotalEnergies is currently the subject of a lawsuit by environmental groups in France for misleading consumers around its rebranding, while the cities of Paris and New York joined in September a coalition suing the firm for failing to adequately fight climate change.
(Reporting by Juliette Portala; editing by Kirsten Donovan, Ingrid Melander)
Photograph: TotalEnergies refinery and offices in Antwerpen, Flanders, Belgium on July 10, 2022. Photo credit: Bigstock
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