L'art de noyer le poisson : notre réponse à TotalEnergies sur le projet Papua LNG

A joint statement by Reclaim Finance and partners challenging TotalEnergies' claims regarding the Papua LNG project, asserting that the project is incompatible with a 1.5°C warming limit, risks becoming a stranded asset, and threatens indigenous forests and community rights in Papua New Guinea.

• TotalEnergies' production goals and carbon intensity for 2030 are incompatible with the IEA's Net Zero by 2050 (NZE) scenario. The company's current objectives would result in oil and gas production exceeding NZE requirements by over 40%, with a carbon intensity 20% higher than the NZE scenario.
• The Papua LNG project is described as a 'climate bomb' because the vast majority of its emissions—220 million tonnes of CO2 over its lifetime, equivalent to Bangladesh's annual emissions—will come from the combustion of the gas itself rather than direct operations.
• The project faces high financial risks, including the potential for becoming a stranded asset. Global gas demand is expected to peak before 2030, and the project's start date (2027 or 2028) coincides with a projected global supply surplus and falling prices; furthermore, no long-term sales and purchase agreements have been made public.
• The project's ecological impact cannot be compensated by 'net zero deforestation' claims. The authors argue that planting new forests cannot replace the 'unrecoverable carbon' stored in indigenous forests or the essential habitats for species that regulate the water and climate cycles.
• The project threatens high biodiversity, with an Environmental Impact Study identifying 49 newly discovered flora and fauna species and 16 species not previously described by science on the development sites.
• There are significant concerns regarding the social license to operate and community consent. A council of chiefs representing 600 clans denounced the consultation process in September, and the project's 2017 human rights study indicated approximately 12,700 people lived in 39 villages within the project's area of influence.
• The Independent Advisory Panel (PCI) is deemed an insufficient safeguard because TotalEnergies is not committed to following its recommendations, and panel members have expressed strong concerns regarding social impacts and the consultation process.

APA

Martin, L. (2023). L'art de noyer le poisson : notre réponse à TotalEnergies sur le projet Papua LNG. Reclaim Finance. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/2023/11/29/lart-de-noyer-le-poisson-notre-reponse-a-totalenergies-sur-le-projet-papua-lng/

Chicago

Martin, Léo. L'art de noyer le poisson : notre réponse à TotalEnergies sur le projet Papua LNG. Reclaim Finance, 2023. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/2023/11/29/lart-de-noyer-le-poisson-notre-reponse-a-totalenergies-sur-le-projet-papua-lng/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Martin |first1=Léo |title=L'art de noyer le poisson : notre réponse à TotalEnergies sur le projet Papua LNG |publisher=Reclaim Finance |date=29 November 2023 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/2023/11/29/lart-de-noyer-le-poisson-notre-reponse-a-totalenergies-sur-le-projet-papua-lng/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{martin2023lart, author = {Martin, Léo}, title = {{L'art de noyer le poisson : notre réponse à TotalEnergies sur le projet Papua LNG}}, publisher = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2023}, month = nov, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/2023/11/29/lart-de-noyer-le-poisson-notre-reponse-a-totalenergies-sur-le-projet-papua-lng/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }