TotalEnergies

TotalEnergies’ target setting has improved since the 2021 benchmark assessment. It has a net-zero target covering its scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by 2050. It has quantified offsets for two of its scope 1 and 2 emissions targets. It has increased its ambition for several of its targets, including its scope 1 and 2 target, scope 3 targets for oil products and scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions intensity targets. To align better with its long-term goals, TotalEnergies should increase the ambition of all of its targets, particularly as the company is projected to fail to reach its targets in the short- and medium-term.

TotalEnergies is investing nearly 15% of its overall CapEx in low-carbon technologies such as renewables, second-generation biofuels, energy storage and CCS. This is significantly lower than the sectoral expectation for oil and gas companies to dedicate 77% of CapEx to low-carbon technologies. The company can improve its performance on material investment by significantly increasing its low-carbon CapEx and by disclosing the low-carbon CapEx it plans to invest over the next five years.

TotalEnergies’ scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions intensity has decreased slightly between 2019 and 2022. However, this is not aligned with the company’s 1.5°C pathway, which projects that the company should decrease its scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions intensity by nearly 4% annually. While the company provides energy efficiency services to clients, its revenue from low-carbon products is less than 2% of its overall revenue. The company is projected to exceed its scope 3 carbon budget by over 50% between 2022 and 2050, further increasing the gap with its 1.5°C pathway.

TotalEnergies is developing several low-carbon business models, such as renewables, green hydrogen, electric vehicle (EV) charging, second-generation biofuels, biogas and CCS. However, the current and future size of these business models is small in proportion to the size and scale of its current oil and gas operations. Several of these low-carbon business models, such as renewables and green hydrogen, if scaled up, can enable the company to decouple financial results from greenhouse gas emissions.

TotalEnergies aims to achieve zero scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2050 with reliance on offsets. It will use 38% and 22% offsets to reach two of its scope 1 and 2 emissions reduction targets. The company has set a target to achieve zero scope 3 emissions by 2050, and net-zero scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions intensity by 2050. Further, the company aims to reduce the sales of its petroleum products by more than 40% by 2030 compared to 2019.

TotalEnergies aims to transition by generating 35 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy from solar and wind projects by 2025 and 100 GW by 2030. It aims to have more than 100 hydrogen plants by 2030 and aims to produce one million tonnes of green hydrogen by 2030. It aims to produce 1.5 million tonnes per year of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) by 2030 and capture 10% of the global SAF market by 2030. The company is targeting 20-terawatt hours per year of biomethane capacity by 2030. It aims to store more than 100 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year by 2030. However, it will also be using offsets to reach its targets.

In 2022, TotalEnergies invested nearly 15% of its CapEx in low-carbon technologies. So far, it has only generated less than 2% of its total revenue from low-carbon activities. The company does not disclose its low-carbon research and development (R&D) spending by technology type. Currently, it has 17 GW of renewable capacity, 30 hydrogen stations, provides SAF to three French airports and has 43,000 EV charging stations worldwide. At present, it is spending USD 100 million on carbon removal technologies, such as CCS.

Between 2019 and 2022, the company’s scope 1 and 2 emissions intensity decreased at a sufficient rate to align with its 1.5°C pathway and it is projected to remain constant until 2027. Its scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions intensity decreased between 2019 and 2022 but not at a rate aligned with its 1.5°C pathway, and it is projected to remain constant until 2027. To align with its 1.5°C pathway, the company is required to annually decrease its scope 1 and 2 emissions intensity by nearly 6% and its scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions intensity by nearly 4% respectively.

While TotalEnergies has several targets, including a net-zero target for its scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions intensity, it will use 38% and 22% offsets to reach two of its scope 1 and 2 emissions reduction targets. The company bases its transition on non-mature technologies, such as advanced biofuels, yet it does not disclose its low-carbon R&D for any technology apart from CCS. TotalEnergies is projected to exceed its scope 3 carbon budget by over 50% between 2022 and 2050, which signifies that the company is not yet prepared for the low-carbon transition.

The company commits to engaging in social dialogue with workers and unions. It also discloses the categories of stakeholders it engages with on a just transition, including customers, employees, affected stakeholders and the shared community. Furthermore, the company demonstrates ongoing social dialogue and meaningful engagement with affected stakeholders, through consultation meetings which helps Total Energies better understand affected stakeholder needs and how they can mitigate the damaging impacts/ No evidence was found of the company undertaking just transition planning to mitigate the social impacts of the transition on workers, affected stakeholders and its business relationships. Additionally, no evidence was found to demonstrate the company’s engagement in social dialogue and with stakeholders in just transition planning.

The company has a commitment to create and support access to green and decent jobs as part of the low-carbon transition. Furthermore, it discloses the actions it takes to maximise the creation of jobs at some of its plant closures through continious stakeholder engagement and project planning. However, is no evidence that the company discloses the measures it takes to ensure that these jobs embed equality of opportunity for women and vulnerable groups. Furthermore, no relevant disclosure was found of the company’s assessment of employment dislocation risks. The company has a commitment to re- and up-skill workers and stakeholders affected by the low-carbon transition and discloses the actions it takes in this regard. For instance, it has created concrete projects that has translated knowledge across the energy value chain into over 400 jobs. Furthermore, the company discloses the measures it takes to embed equality of opportunity for women and vulnerable groups in these actions. . However, no relevant disclosure was found of a process for identifying skills gaps for workers and affected stakeholders in the context of the transition.

No relevant disclosure was found to show if the company identifies impacts of the low-carbon transition on social protection for workers and affected stakeholders, nor how it contributes to social protection. Additionally, no evidence was found that the company expects its business relationships to contribute to the social protection of their workers and affected stakeholders. No relevant disclosure was found to show how the company identifies any misalignment of its lobbying activities with policies and regulations that support the just transition, nor of the measures it takes to address misalignment. Furthermore, no evidence was found that the company lobbies for policies and regulations for green and decent job creation; retention, education and reskilling; and social protection for workers.

The company commits to respecting human rights and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) fundamental rights at work, and it expects its business relationships to respect the ILO fundamental rights at work. Furthermore, the company discloses a human rights due diligence process that includes the identification and assessment of salient human rights risks. The company takes action to mitigate these risks in its own operations and supply chain, and it engages with affected stakeholders. Additionally, the company has a grievance mechanism available to workers and external stakeholders.

The company commits to respecting the health and safety of its workers and expects the same commitment of its business relationships. The company discloses a time-bound target for paying all workers a living wage and states that it has achieved paying all workers a living wage. While the company discloses the proportion of its direct workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements, no relevant disclosure was found of the company’s required working hours. The company discloses some indicators of workforce diversity, including age and gender. However, no relevant disclosure was found of additional indicators of workforce diversity. Nevertheless, the company commits to gender equality and women’s empowerment.

The company commits to protecting personal data. Additionally, the company discloses its global tax strategy and board accountability for the strategy. Furthermore, the company has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption, and includes corresponding clauses in its contracts with business relationships. The company does not, however, have aa lobbying and political engagement policy, and it does not specify if it does not make political contributions.