A French court has ruled that oil and gas giant TotalEnergies engaged in “misleading commercial practices” by overstating its climate pledges. The court ordered the company to remove some claims, marking a significant legal precedent for environmental misinformation. This decision is seen as a major victory for activists, who argue that corporations must be held accountable for their environmental claims.
The case was brought by three environmental groups, who accused TotalEnergies of misleading consumers about its efforts to reduce carbon emissions. The company had claimed to be working towards carbon neutrality by 2050, while continuing to increase oil and gas production. However, the court found that these claims were misleading and ordered TotalEnergies to remove them from its website.
This ruling is not an isolated incident, as European courts have been increasingly cracking down on environmental misinformation. In 2024, a Dutch court ruled against airline KLM for misleading consumers about its environmental impact, while a German court made a similar ruling against Lufthansa in March. These decisions reflect a growing trend towards greater accountability for corporations’ environmental claims.
ClientEarth, an organization that monitors case law against the oil and gas industry, welcomed the ruling as a “historic win against greenwashing.” Greenwashing refers to the practice of claiming to be more environmentally responsible than one actually is. The organization noted that this is the first judgment in the world to rule that an oil and gas major has misled the public by greenwashing its image.
The Paris court found that TotalEnergies had made environmental claims on its French consumer-facing website that misled consumers into believing that it could achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 while increasing oil and gas production. However, the court dismissed complaints over TotalEnergies’ fossil gas and biofuels, which activists argued had been deceptively promoted as clean energy.
The ruling has significant implications for corporations, which are facing increasing pressure to reduce their environmental impact. As Jonathan White, a lawyer for ClientEarth, noted, the decision sends a “clear warning shot to other oil and gas majors in Europe and beyond: claiming to be part of the transition while backing new fossil fuel projects comes at a tried-and-tested legal price.”
TotalEnergies must now remove certain claims from its website, including statements about its ambition to be a major player in the energy transition and its goal of contributing to net zero by 2050. The company’s consumer electricity and gas companies in France must also publish the ruling on their websites. This decision reinforces the importance of transparency and accountability in environmental claims, and sets a significant precedent for future cases.