TOTALENERGIES: Is it really diversifying its energy production?

Reclaim Finance argues that TotalEnergies' claims of diversification are misleading, as the company intends to increase absolute oil and gas production by 2030 and is aggressively expanding its liquefied natural gas (LNG) portfolio. The report highlights that the company's renewable energy growth relies heavily on acquisitions rather than new capacity and criticizes the Papua LNG project for its projected climate and human rights impacts.

• TotalEnergies intends to increase its absolute oil and gas production by 2 to 3% by 2030, contradicting the International Energy Agency's (IEA) Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario which requires immediate declines. Consequently, oil and gas will still constitute 80% of the company's energy mix in 2030.
• The company's growth in renewable energy capacity is primarily driven by the acquisition of existing projects rather than the development of new capacity. Between 2020 and 2022, TotalEnergies increased gross installed renewable capacity by 13.8 GW, but 11.7 GW of this was acquired through purchases, including stakes in ClearWay and Adani Green.
• TotalEnergies is significantly expanding its liquefied natural gas (LNG) business, aiming to increase equity production and offloading by 50% between 2023 and 2030. The report argues this is not diversification but a new transport method for gas, noting that LNG is more emission-intensive than pipeline gas.
• The company plans to build 13 new liquefaction terminals, including Papua LNG and Mozambique LNG, which are estimated to emit 355 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year. The report claims TotalEnergies uses carbon capture and storage (CCS) as a 'greenwashing gimmick', citing that CCS at the Rio Grande LNG facility would only capture about 3% of lifecycle emissions.
• The Papua LNG project is described as a 'climate bomb' that would increase emissions from Papua New Guinea's industrial and energy sector by 7% and emit over 220 million tonnes of scope 3 emissions. The report also warns of human rights risks for 12,700 people in 39 villages, noting the involvement of partner ExxonMobil.
• TotalEnergies' electricity production remains dominated by gas, which accounted for 69% of output (22.8 TWh) compared to 31% from wind and solar. The company plans to double its electricity production from gas-fired power plants between 2023 and 2030.

APA

Pinson, L. (2023). TOTALENERGIES: Is it really diversifying its energy production? Reclaim Finance. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/092023-TotalEnergies-Is-TotalEnergies-really-diversifying-its-energy-production.pdf

Chicago

Pinson, Lucie. TOTALENERGIES: Is it really diversifying its energy production? Reclaim Finance, 2023. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/092023-TotalEnergies-Is-TotalEnergies-really-diversifying-its-energy-production.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Pinson |first1=Lucie |title=TOTALENERGIES: Is it really diversifying its energy production? |publisher=Reclaim Finance |date=October 2023 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/092023-TotalEnergies-Is-TotalEnergies-really-diversifying-its-energy-production.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{pinson2023totalenergies, author = {Pinson, Lucie}, title = {{TOTALENERGIES: Is it really diversifying its energy production?}}, institution = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2023}, month = oct, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/092023-TotalEnergies-Is-TotalEnergies-really-diversifying-its-energy-production.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }