Credit: Greenpeace Luxembourg
Greenpeace activists today demonstrated outside the subsidiary of TotalEnergies in Luxembourg City to denounce what they deemed to be the greenwashing practices of the oil giant.
According to Greenpeace Luxembourg, despite the company's renaming to TotalEnergies and its huge investments in rebranding its image, oil and gas will remain the core business of the Total group for decades to come. The non-governmental environmental organisation noted that the company is one of the five largest fossil fuel producers worldwide, alongside Exxon, Chevron, Shell and BP. As reported by Oxfam France in its 2021 climate report, the company's greenhouse gas emissions amount to €488 million tonnes per year, contributing to an average global temperature rise of +4°C. At the same time, Total reportedley spends $52 million a year on its climate image and advertises voluntary carbon offsets on its Luxembourg website, claiming to offset the greenhouse gas emissions caused by its activities. According to Greenpeace, however, most of the products the company sells could be replaced by truly climate-friendly renewables, for which the technologies already exist.
"Offset mechanisms like the Redd+ programme supported by TotalEnergies allow continuous environmental pollution and promote the commercialisation of nature", commented Frank Thinnes, Climate and Energy Campaigner at Greenpeace Luxembourg. "This model has already led to land grabbing, biodiversity loss and human rights violations".
On a global level, the Total group has set itself the goal of becoming climate neutral by 2050 in terms of emissions from its direct activities, as well as those resulting from the use of its products. However, in March 2021, the investor coalition Climate Action 100+ concluded that TotalEnergies only partially complies with its own climate criteria and that, in any case, its climate policy is not compatible with the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C.
Greenpeace has demanded that the states currently participating in the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow reject the industry's plans to create a global market for carbon offsetting, arguing that compensation mechanisms will only delay real climate action. Oil companies like TotalEnergies, however, are trying by all means to be able to continue marketing their climate-damaging product, the non-profit argued.
"Remember the cool cowboys in the Marlboro ads, like Wayne McLaren or David McLean? These gentlemen died as a result of smoking cigarettes. Back then, the cigarette industry's advertising was misleading. Today, it's the lies and greenwashing of fossil fuel companies like TotalEnergies that mislead consumers and thus destroy our climate and our future", concluded Frank Thinnes.
Similar to the ban on tobacco advertising, Greenpeace and 20 other international organisations are calling for a ban on advertising for polluting companies whose actions do not comply with the Paris Agreement and which promote fossil fuels that harm and endanger millions of people. By participating in the European Citizens' Initiative www.banfossilfuelads.org, everyone can support this demand. If the petition reaches one million signatures in Europe, the European Commission is obliged to consider the demands of the citizens' initiative; in turn, this could lead to a European law.
