TotalEnergies

InfluenceMap Score
for Climate Policy Engagement
C-
Performance Band
60%
Organization Score
59%
Relationship Score
Sector:
Energy
Head​quarters:
Paris, France
Brands and Associated Companies:
Elf Aquitaine
Official Web Site:
Wikipedia:

Climate Lobbying Overview: TotalEnergies appears to have a mixture of positive and negative engagement with climate policy. The company has communicated mixed top-line positions on climate targets and policies in the EU, while its engagement in the US appears to be more positive, but it continues to advocate for the advancement of the role of fossil fuels in the energy mix, particularly fossil gas. The company also retains membership to a number of industry associations that have historically opposed climate regulations.

Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: TotalEnergies’ top-line messaging on climate policy appears to be largely positive. The company recognizes the link between fossil fuels and climate change on its corporate website in 2022. In the company’s 2022 Climate and Sustainability Progress Report, TotalEnergies support for the ‘pledges made by nations worldwide to combat global warming as part of the Paris Agreement’. TotalEnergies has also stated support for carbon pricing in its 2022 Climate and Sustainability Progress Report. Additionally, in July 2021 it signed an open letter to the French government advocating for the Covid-19 recovery plan to be implemented alongside the EU’s Fit for 55 package while in the US, in January 2021, TotalEnergies, along with other companies signed a joint letter that called for ambitious, durable, bipartisan climate solutions.

Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: TotalEnergies appears to be strategically engaged with climate-related regulations in the EU and US, while holding mixed positions overall. While the company states its support for carbon pricing, its engagement with specific policies on the issue appears to be more mixed. In a January 2021 consultation response on the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), TotalEnergies supported the increased ambition for the ETS. The company qualified this support by emphasizing the threat of carbon leakage in the absence of a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), stating that additional support for emissions intensive sectors would be required to maintain EU competitiveness, while not supporting a Cross-Sectoral Correction Factor. In the same consultation response, the company supported the development of a CBAM in the EU, although it advocated for the gradual phase out of free allowances and compensation rather than an immediate removal, thus weakening the original climate ambition of the policy.

On renewable energy policy, TotalEnergies states on its corporate website in 2022 that it supports policies and initiatives to promote growth in renewable energies. In July 2022, TotalEnergies Renewables USA signed a joint letter that directly advocated to President Biden and Congressional leadership to pass a climate package through budget reconciliation that includes clean energy provisions and previously, in April 2022, the company advocated for improved permitting processes in the EU to aid the acceleration of the deployment of renewables in its response to the EU solar energy strategy. In January 2022, TotalEnergies signed a separate joint letter that advocated to Congressional leadership to pass the clean energy tax credits in the Build Back Better Act. However, in a EU consultation response on the Renewable Energy Directive Revision in January 2021, the company appeared to advocate for ‘low carbon fuels’ to be included in the policy, allowing fuels from a non-renewable origin to be eligible in some form.

TotalEnergies appears to have positive engagement with regulations regarding GHG emission reductions. In an EU consultation response in March 2021, the company stated support for a greenhouse gas intensity reduction target of 20% compared to 2018 levels and in a separate consultation response in January 2021, TotalEnergies stated its support for the EU’s increased GHG emissions target of 55% by 2030.

Positioning on Energy Transition: TotalEnergies’ positioning on the energy mix is mixed. In September 2022, CEO Patrick Pouyanné signed a joint letter to President Macron of France calling for joint energy policies, which appeared to place emphasis on the need to decarbonize energy supply. On its corporate website, accessed in August 2022, the company supports the energy transition, whilst simultaneously promoting the role of fossil gas in the energy mix. The company has released supportive statements on the energy transition, such as in April 2021 where it stated its support for the UK’s energy transition goals. Nevertheless, TotalEnergies has repeatedly promoted a long-term role for fossil gas in the energy mix without tying its use to the deployment of CCS. In a Reuters article from June 2022, Pouyanné was reported suggested that companies listening to policymakers' carbon emission reductions goals, has resulted in a lack of investment in fossil fuel production, appearing to link climate action to the global energy supply and cost issues. Previously, in October 2021, Pouyanné stated replacing coal with fossil gas is ‘good for climate’, stressing the intermittency of renewable energy.

TotalEnergies appears to be supportive of the decarbonization of transport. In April 2022, it signed an open letter in which it advocated for higher ambition of hydrogen infrastructure in the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR) to aid the decarbonization of transportation in Europe; calling for half of the infrastructure network needed to be built by 2025 and for the bringing forward the TEN-T (Trans European Transport) Core 2030 target proposed by the European Commission to 2027. In the US, in July 2021, it signed a separate joint letter in which it advocated for policymakers to support transportation electrification policies in the Biden administration infrastructure bill.

Industry Association Governance: Through its corporate website, TotalEnergies has disclosed that it conducts an annual industry association review assessing alignment on climate change policy. Although it does not appear to publish the full review, it does provide what policies it bases its alignment on, a list of memberships to associations and actions taken by the company after each review. The company has terminated its membership to Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) in 2020 and the American Petroleum Institute in 2021 due to misalignment on climate grounds. Nevertheless, it retains memberships to other associations such as BusinessEurope and FuelsEurope, which have traditionally lobbied against a variety of climate change policies at EU level.

A detailed assessment of the company's corporate review on climate policy engagement can be found on InfluenceMap's CA100+ Investor Hub here.

InfluenceMap collects and assesses evidence of corporate climate policy engagement on a weekly basis, depending on the availability of information from each specific data source (for more information see our methodology). While this analysis flows through to the company’s scores each week, the summary above is updated periodically. This summary was last updated in Q3 2022.

QUERIES
DATA SOURCES
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Strength of Relationship
STRONG
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
WEAK
 
60%
 
60%
 
61%
 
61%
 
57%
 
57%
 
59%
 
59%
 
49%
 
49%
 
52%
 
52%
 
49%
 
49%
 
50%
 
50%
 
44%
 
44%
 
41%
 
41%
 
59%
 
59%
 
66%
 
66%
 
66%
 
66%
 
59%
 
59%
 
92%
 
92%
 
94%
 
94%
 
28%
 
28%
 
69%
 
69%
 
41%
 
41%
 
86%
 
86%
 
68%
 
68%
 
65%
 
65%
 
63%
 
63%
 
43%
 
43%

How to Read our Relationship Score Map

In this section, we depict graphically the relationships the corporation has with trade associations, federations, advocacy groups and other third parties who may be acting on their behalf to influence climate change policy. Each of the columns above represents one relationship the corporation appears to have with such a third party. In these columns, the top, dark section represents the strength of the relationship the corporation has with the influencer. For example if a corporation's senior executive also held a key role in the trade association, we would deem this to be a strong relationship and it would be on the far left of the chart above, with the weaker ones to the right. Click on these grey shaded upper sections for details of these relationships. The middle section contains a link to the organization score details of the influencer concerned, so you can see the details of its climate change policy influence. Click on the middle sections for for details of the trade associations. The lower section contains the organization score of that influencer, the lower the more negatively it is influencing climate policy.