Muddying the waters: our response to Total

Reclaim Finance challenges Total SE's claims regarding its carbon neutrality ambitions and Scope 3 emission targets. The organization argues that Total's projected emissions will overshoot the 1.5°C trajectory by 200MT by 2030 and that its reported reductions in Europe are misleading. Reclaim Finance further criticizes Total's carbon intensity calculations for excluding non-fuel products and intermediate stages, concluding that the company's strategy is inadequate for limiting global temperature rise.

• Total SE's Scope 3 emissions are estimated to increase to 500MT CO2e in 2030 from 410MT in 2015, overshooting the level required for a 1.5°C trajectory by 200MT.
• Total SE's commitment to reduce Scope 3 emissions in Europe by 30% by 2050 represents a total reduction of 76.8 MT, which averages to only 5MT per year over 15 years, contradicting the company's framing of a 75MT/year reduction.
• Total SE's carbon intensity calculations are criticized for lacking transparency, as they exclude emissions from non-fuel products such as bitumen, lubricants, and plastics, as well as emissions from products sold at an intermediate stage.
• Total SE's target of a 15% reduction in carbon intensity by 2030 and 35% by 2040 is significantly lower than the approximately 90% reduction identified by Carbone 41 as necessary to limit temperature rise to less than 2°C.
• According to the Climate Action 100+ Net-Zero Company Benchmark, Total SE fulfills only one of nine evaluated indicators, with none of the fulfilled indicators relating to emission reduction targets.

APA

admin (2021). Muddying the waters: our response to Total. Reclaim Finance. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2021/03/22/muddying-the-waters-our-response-to-total/

Chicago

admin. Muddying the waters: our response to Total. Reclaim Finance, 2021. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2021/03/22/muddying-the-waters-our-response-to-total/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=admin |title=Muddying the waters: our response to Total |publisher=Reclaim Finance |date=22 March 2021 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2021/03/22/muddying-the-waters-our-response-to-total/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{admin2021muddying, author = {admin}, title = {{Muddying the waters: our response to Total}}, publisher = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2021}, month = mar, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2021/03/22/muddying-the-waters-our-response-to-total/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }