(Paris) The TotalEnergies group announced on Tuesday the strengthening of its short-term objectives for reducing greenhouse gas emissions linked to petroleum products, while their share is decreasing in its activities in favor of gas and renewable energies.
This reflects the priority given by the French company to gas, and in particular to liquefied natural gas (LNG), to the detriment of oil in its portfolio, gas emitting less CO2 than oil when it is burned. Not to mention the development of solar and other renewable energies in its activities.
The group “sets itself a more ambitious objective of reducing Scope 3 Petroleum emissions”, i.e. the emissions generated by the fuels and kerosene burned by its customers, with a 30% reduction targeted “from 2025” (compared to 2030 previously) compared to 2015. By advancing its objective, the group is now aiming for a 40% reduction in emissions in this register in 2030 compared to 2015.
These emissions now represent the majority of the group’s carbon footprint, followed by those related to gas.
All indirect emissions linked to the combustion of products sold by TotalEnergies (Scope 3, in the jargon of carbon accounting) represented 389 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2022, a figure published on Tuesday. The group intends to keep them “under 400 million tonnes” in 2030, compared to 410 million in 2015. This is the same order of magnitude as France’s emissions.
The multinational’s carbon footprint also includes the energy consumed by its own facilities (known as scopes 1 and 2), which historically represents around 10% of all of its emissions.
For these emissions, TotalEnergies has set itself “a new target” of emissions of less than 38 million tonnes of CO2 in 2025 compared to 2015 (against a target of 40 million tonnes previously), “thanks in particular to a program of 1 billion energy savings launched globally for 2023-2024,” according to a statement from the group.
TotalEnergies has confirmed its desire to devote $5 billion to low-carbon investments in 2023, including $1 billion for the energy efficiency of its facilities and $4 billion for low-carbon energies (solar, wind, carbon sequestration, etc.) .
By 2030, TotalEnergies plans to invest “14 to 18 billion dollars per year […] of which a third in low carbon energies, around 30% dedicated to the development of new oil and gas projects, the rest being devoted to the maintenance of the hydrocarbon portfolio”, detailed the group in its press release.
“Yes, it is absolutely doable, and we have done it, to continue to generate profits, and be profitable, while preparing for the future by investing in low carbon energies”, commented the CEO of TotalEnergies Patrick Pouyanné from London presenting “the update of his climate ambition”.
The group pocketed record profits of $20.5 billion in 2022.
