The TPI benchmark: misleading approach, dangerous conclusion

Reclaim Finance criticizes the Transition Pathway Initiative (TPI) for its energy sector benchmark, claiming it erroneously labels companies like TotalEnergies, Eni, and RWE as 1.5°C-aligned. The author argues the TPI methodology is flawed because it relies on company declarations rather than capital expenditure plans, ignores scope 3 emission targets, and overlooks the necessity of immediate short-term emission cuts, focusing instead on long-term targets for 2050.

• The TPI benchmark is criticized for relying exclusively on company declarations for its 'carbon performance' analysis without verifying the feasibility of these ambitions through data such as capital expenditure plans.
• The TPI's 'management quality' scoring is deemed inadequate because it fails to require companies to disclose targets for scope 3 emissions, which are dominant in the oil and gas sector; for example, scope 3 emissions represented nearly 90% of TotalEnergies' total emissions in 2020.
• The TPI methodology is accused of ignoring the critical need for immediate greenhouse gas emission reductions, instead granting 'aligned' status to companies that only meet targets in the long term.
• Specific companies are cited as being incorrectly labeled as aligned: TotalEnergies is credited as 1.5°C-aligned despite only meeting TPI's emission intensity target in 2047, and RWE is credited despite its emissions remaining higher than the pathway until 2040.

APA

admin (2021). The TPI benchmark: misleading approach, dangerous conclusion. Reclaim Finance. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2021/12/06/the-tpi-benchmark-misleading-approach-dangerous-conclusion/

Chicago

admin. The TPI benchmark: misleading approach, dangerous conclusion. Reclaim Finance, 2021. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2021/12/06/the-tpi-benchmark-misleading-approach-dangerous-conclusion/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=admin |title=The TPI benchmark: misleading approach, dangerous conclusion |publisher=Reclaim Finance |date=6 December 2021 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2021/12/06/the-tpi-benchmark-misleading-approach-dangerous-conclusion/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{admin2021tpi, author = {admin}, title = {{The TPI benchmark: misleading approach, dangerous conclusion}}, publisher = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2021}, month = dec, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2021/12/06/the-tpi-benchmark-misleading-approach-dangerous-conclusion/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }