Greenpeace France, Friends of the Earth France and Notre Affaire à Tous, sued TotalEnergies on Wednesday for
"misleading commercial practices"
, questioning its ambition of carbon neutrality and the presentation of gas as the
"cleanest" fossil energy.
“
, they announced Thursday.
This appeal was filed before the Paris court against two companies, TotalEnergies SE and its subsidiary TotalEnergies electricity and gas France.
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“These two companies broadcast misleading advertisements”
from May 2021, via a poster campaign, the media, the internet and social networks, argued Clara Gonzales, lawyer at Greenpeace France, to AFP.
TotalEnergies conveyed two key messages through this advertising campaign:
"its commitment to 'carbon neutrality' by 2050"
and the fact that
"fossil gas is 'the least polluting' and 'the least emitter of greenhouse gases 'fossil fuels, while presenting it as complementary to renewable and cheap energies
,' explains Greenpeace.
“It is these allegations that the summons qualifies as misleading commercial practices”
, adds the NGO.
For Greenpeace, these advertisements "mislead consumers" by giving
"the false impression that the oil and gas giant can achieve 'carbon neutrality by 2050', while planning to produce, promote and sell more fossil fuels ".
“TotalEnergies is implementing its strategy in a concrete way (investments, new businesses, significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, etc.) and is in line with the objectives that the company has set itself to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050”
, replied a spokeswoman for the oil group.
"It is therefore wrong to claim that our strategy would be 'greenwashing',"
she told AFP.