THE BOND MARKET: A cash cow for TotalEnergies’ climate-wrecking projects

The report claims that TotalEnergies is not transitioning to clean energy, instead planning to increase oil and gas production by 2-3% per year by 2028. It highlights that the global bond market is a critical funding source, providing 68% of the company's financing between 2016 and 2022. The document asserts that banks and investors use bonds to indirectly support projects like EACOP and Mozambique LNG while avoiding direct loan risks, and calls for an immediate end to the issuance of new bonds to align with 1.5°C warming limits.

• TotalEnergies plans to increase its oil and gas production by 2-3% per year by 2028, which contradicts the International Energy Agency's (IEA) Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario (NZE) requiring production decreases of 21% for oil and 18% for gas by 2030 compared to 2022 levels.
• TotalEnergies is the leader among publicly traded companies in short-term oil and gas expansion, with plans spanning 53 countries, including Mozambique, Namibia, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, Suriname, and Uganda.
• Bonds served as the primary financing source for TotalEnergies between 2016 and 2022, accounting for 68% of its funding and totaling more than US$37.6 billion.
• The company maintains a significant bond portfolio with 45 active bonds issued between November 2013 and April 2024, totaling nearly US$48.9 billion. This includes a US$4.25 billion bond issued on April 5, 2024.
• Financial institutions can indirectly support TotalEnergies' fossil fuel projects, such as EACOP, by participating in bond issuances even if they have committed to avoid providing direct funding for those specific projects.
• TotalEnergies' strategy relies heavily on liquefied natural gas (LNG), making it the 11th largest developer of liquefaction terminals globally, though the report states these are not needed to meet global gas demand according to the NZE.

APA

Cuvelier, L., & Bouhey, A. (2024). THE BOND MARKET: A cash cow for TotalEnergies’ climate-wrecking projects. Reclaim Finance. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024.04.10_Reclaim-Finance_The-bond-market-a-cash-cow-for-TotalEnergiesclimate-wrecking-projects.pdf

Chicago

Cuvelier, Lara, and Antoine Bouhey. THE BOND MARKET: A cash cow for TotalEnergies’ climate-wrecking projects. Reclaim Finance, 2024. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024.04.10_Reclaim-Finance_The-bond-market-a-cash-cow-for-TotalEnergiesclimate-wrecking-projects.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Cuvelier |first1=Lara |last2=Bouhey |first2=Antoine |title=THE BOND MARKET: A cash cow for TotalEnergies’ climate-wrecking projects |publisher=Reclaim Finance |date=April 2024 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024.04.10_Reclaim-Finance_The-bond-market-a-cash-cow-for-TotalEnergiesclimate-wrecking-projects.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{cuvelier2024bond, author = {Cuvelier, Lara and Bouhey, Antoine}, title = {{THE BOND MARKET: A cash cow for TotalEnergies’ climate-wrecking projects}}, institution = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2024}, month = apr, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024.04.10_Reclaim-Finance_The-bond-market-a-cash-cow-for-TotalEnergiesclimate-wrecking-projects.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }