ESG Enforcement Tracker

Key facts:

On 23 October 2025, the Paris Judicial Tribunal found TotalEnergies guilty of engaging in misleading commercial practices by referring, in its consumer-facing communications, to “its ambition to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and to be a major player in the energy transition,” following the announcement of the change of its name from “Total” to “TotalEnergies” and the presentation of a new energy strategy. The case was brought by NGOs Greenpeace France, Friends of the Earth France and Notre Affaire à Tous.

The Tribunal held that by referring to the objective of carbon neutrality “within the meaning of the Paris Agreement,” consumers were led to believe that TotalEnergies was aligning itself with the recommendations of the scientific experts consistent with the Paris Agreement. The Tribunal considered the use of such terminology, without it being made clear that the company was continuing to increase its production and investments in oil and gas, was likely to mislead and might influence consumer purchasing.

The Tribunal ordered TotalEnergies to remove statements from its website such as “Our ambition is to be a major player in the energy transition while continuing to meet the energy needs of populations,” and “We aim to help achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 together with society.”

The Court gave TotalEnergies a month to remove the misleading statements or pay a fine of €10,000 a day. It was also ordered to post the court’s ruling on its website, and would face the same penalty for non compliance. It was also ordered to pay €8,000 to each of the three NGOs and €15,000 for their legal costs.

The Tribunal dismissed a further greenwashing claim relating to the company’s fossil gas and biofuels claims, holding that although the statements contained some disputed claims, these were for institutional rather than commercial purposes.

TotalEnergies has said that it will not appeal the decision.