In an update on its climate strategy on Tuesday, executives from French oil firm TotalEnergies predicted that by 2030, the company’s overall greenhouse gas emissions will not significantly decrease since it intends to expand its gas business.
TotalEnergies (TTE-N -1.19% drop) intends to increase its output of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by 40% over the next ten years.
TotalEnergies’ sale of gas to replace more polluting coal is a net benefit to the environment, according to Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne, who also stated that the company should not be held liable for how its customers use the fuels it sells.
End-user emissions, referred to as Scope 3, stood at 389 million tonne CO2e last year, and TotalEnergies forecasts this metric to broadly stagnate and stand at less than 400 million tonne CO2 equivalent (CO2) by 2030.
Scientists say the world needs to cut greenhouse gas emissions by around 43 percent by 2030 from 2019 levels to have any hope of meeting the Paris Agreement goal of keeping global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
“Regarding the volume of Scope 3, we put in 400 million, but we did not lower that target because we don’t consider that we have an impact on some of it,” Pouyanne said.
TotalEnergies aims to reduce emissions from its oil products by 40 percent from 2015 levels in 2030, increasing its reduction target from the 30 percent announced last year.
“The net takeaway is that even when our gas-related Scope 3 emissions go up, the world is better off,” said the company’s Strategy and Sustainability Chief, Helle Kristoffersen, echoing Pouyanne’s point on replacing coal.
Mark van Baal, founder of the climate activist group Follow This, said, “TotalEnergies has no targets that lead to absolute emissions reductions by 2030. Setting a Paris-aligned medium-term target covering Scope 3 is paramount.”
“The company is determined to hang on to its fossil business model as long as possible. Only shareholders can change their minds,” he added, pointing to a climate resolution. This is a filing for TotalEnergies’ May shareholder meeting.
Shell has ruled out setting an absolute Scope 3 emissions reduction target.
TotalEnergies intends to cut the carbon intensity of the fuels it sells by 25% from 2015 levels by 2030.
This contrasts with BP’s goal of a 15-20% decrease in emissions intensity from 2019 levels and Shell’s goal of a 20% reduction from 2016.
A corporation might theoretically increase its fossil fuel output and overall emissions while adopting carbon offsets or carbon capture and adding renewable energy or biofuels to its product mix. This is because emissions performance is measured by intensity.
