TotalEnergies Faces Legal Backlash Over Misleading Carbon Neutral Claims
TotalEnergies was found guilty of misleading consumers with claims of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, violating France's greenwashing law. The court ordered the company to remove misleading statements and pay reparations. The judgment highlights increased scrutiny on environmental claims by major firms.
In a landmark decision, a French civil court has ruled that TotalEnergies misled consumers about its carbon neutral ambitions in a 2021 advertising campaign, marking the first application of France's greenwashing law against an energy giant.
The court ordered TotalEnergies to remove from its website any statements regarding carbon neutrality and the energy transition deemed misleading, imposing potential penalties of up to 20,000 euros per day for non-compliance. In addition, TotalEnergies must compensate three NGOs that initiated the lawsuit.
The ruling underscores growing international scrutiny of companies' environmental claims, as evidenced by the EU's stalled discussions on penalties for such misleading statements, amidst a broader effort to address climate change.
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