Total Energies has been found guilty of deceptive business practices by a civil court in Paris, following a 2021 campaign in which the company promised to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and position itself as a key player in the energy transition. French justice considers that such statements misled consumers by not clearly reflecting that the company planned to continue expanding its oil and gas production.
Organizations such as Greenpeace describe the ruling as a legal precedent against greenwashing
This is the first conviction for misleading advertising about sustainability applying French law to a large oil company, according to organizations such as ClientEarth and Greenpeace, which describe the ruling as a historic legal precedent in the fight against greenwashing.
The court has ordered Total Energies to remove from its website statements such as “we will be a key actor in the energy transition”, “We will achieve carbon neutrality in 2050 together with society” either “we put sustainability at the center of our strategy”. The company has one month to delete these messages, under threat of fines of up to 20,000 euros per day in case of non-compliance. In addition, you must keep the court ruling published for 180 days.
Total Energies has also been ordered to pay 8,000 euros in damages to each of the three NGO plaintiffs – Greenpeace France, Friends of the Earth and Notre Affaire à Tous – and to pay 15,000 euros in legal costs.
An advertising strategy without operational support
In May 2021, the company presented its brand change from Total to Total Energies, as part of a commitment to renewable energies, accompanied by messages about sustainability and climate commitment. However, according to the court, there was a “big gap” between the company’s communication and its real activities, still focused mainly on fossil fuels. Despite its investments in renewables, more than 97% of its revenue in 2024 came from unsustainable sources, according to data from the EU sustainable finance disclosure regulation.
The judges cited reports from the International Energy Agency, the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and the United Nations Environment Programme, all of which agreed that achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement requires a rapid reduction in emissions and the abandonment of the development of new fossil deposits. The court concluded that, by linking its products to compliance with the Paris Agreement without clarifying its expansion in hydrocarbons, Total Energies constructed a misleading narrative for the consumer.
The lawsuit is framed in the new French legal framework against greenwashing, applied for the first time to an energy company. Although the court has not ruled on the statements relating to natural gas or biofuels, or on the real viability of the 2050 scenario, it does consider the misleading nature of the advertising messages linked to the energy transition to be proven.
Total Energies has indicated that the ruling affects “general statements” on its website and not to specific campaigns for its energy products. However, he has assured that “will take note of the content of the sentence and act accordingly.”
The case, initiated in 2022 by the plaintiff NGOs, coincides with the opening of a separate criminal investigation by the Nanterre prosecutor’s office. The civil ruling reinforces a growing movement of climate litigation that seeks to align corporate communication with verifiable commitments and real practices.
And the ruling comes in a context of growing regulatory pressure on environmental declarations in the European Union, where several air transport companies – such as Lufthansa and KLM – have already faced similar rulings.
