Greenpeace France and Others v. TotalEnergies SE and TotalEnergies Electricité et Gaz France

On March 2, 2022, Greenpeace France, Les Amis de la Terre France, and Notre Affaire à Tous, supported by ClientEarth as a third-party intervener, filed an action before the Paris Judicial Tribunal against TotalEnergies SE and its subsidiary TotalEnergies Électricité et Gaz France. The NGOs sought an injunction and compensation for moral damages, alleging that the companies’ advertising campaign launched in May 2021 to accompany Total’s rebranding to TotalEnergies misled consumers about the company’s environmental performance and climate commitments. The applicants argued that the campaign, which promoted TotalEnergies’ “ambition to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050” and its claim to be “a major player in the energy transition,” constituted a misleading commercial practice under Articles L.121-1 et seq. of the Consumer Code and Article L.142-2 of the Environment Code. They claimed these assertions were factually inaccurate, given the company’s ongoing expansion of fossil fuel projects, and that they were likely to mislead consumers by suggesting compatibility with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C target. The applicants also challenged statements concerning the environmental merits of fossil gas and agrofuels, arguing that these claims amounted to greenwashing. In its decision of October 23, 2025, the Tribunal held that TotalEnergies and its subsidiary had committed misleading commercial practices by disseminating messages about their “ambition to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050” and their aspiration to be “a major player in the energy transition.” The court found that these statements, used in direct connection with the promotion and sale of energy products to consumers, were environmental claims likely to mislead the public as to the company’s actual contribution to the fight against climate change. The Tribunal concluded that TotalEnergies’ reference to “carbon neutrality by 2050” echoed the global scientific and policy framework under the Paris Agreement, yet the company’s continued investment in fossil fuels contradicted that trajectory. Consequently, the claims were deemed likely to alter consumers’ economic behavior. The Tribunal ordered TotalEnergies to withdraw the offending statements from its website within one month, under a penalty of EUR 10,000 per day of delay, and to publish the decision on the homepage of its French commercial website for 180 consecutive days. The court awarded each of the three NGOs EUR 8,000 for moral damages and a total of EUR 15,000 in legal costs. By contrast, the Tribunal rejected the plaintiffs’ claims concerning fossil gas and agrofuels, finding that the related communications were informational rather than commercial in nature and therefore fell outside the scope of the Consumer Code. It also dismissed the alternative claims based on ecological damage and breach of the duty of environmental vigilance, holding that no causal link between the advertisements and harm to the atmosphere had been demonstrated. This case marks the first successful greenwashing judgment in Europe against a major oil and gas company for misleading “net zero” claims under consumer protection law, setting a precedent for the interpretation of climate-related advertising in light of EU Directive 2005/29/EC and the forthcoming Directive (EU) 2024/825 on environmental claims.