On October 23, 2025, the Paris Judicial Court issued its long-awaited judgment in the so-called "greenwashing" case brought by Greenpeace and other NGOs against TotalEnergies SE and its subsidiary TotalEnergies Electricité et Gaz France for alleged misleading commercial practices relating to their environmental communications.
Out of 44 communications identified by the plaintiffs, only three were deemed misleading commercial practices, and the court ordered the removal of a single statement from the TotalEnergies subsidiary's French commercial website referring to its ambition to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. The court, which acknowledged that it was not its role to evaluate the credibility of TotalEnergies' climate scenario, did not hold that such information was misleading in itself. However, it ruled that more detailed and informative explanations in this respect should have been provided to consumers of the subsidiary TotalEnergies Electricité et Gaz France.
The court also dismissed the NGOs' claims targeting TotalEnergies' institutional and informational communications, including its 2021 rebranding campaign and statements on the role of natural gas and biofuels in the energy transition. The court held that such communications fall outside the scope of misleading commercial practices as defined by the French Consumer Code.
In doing so, the court clarified the dividing line between institutional and commercial communications, confirming that the French Climate and Resilience Law's provisions on environmental claims apply only to advertising directly linked to the sale of goods or services. Like many listed holding companies, TotalEnergies SE has its own corporate website and social media accounts, separate from the commercial websites and media accounts of its marketing subsidiaries.
This ruling provides significant clarification of the legal framework governing environmental communication, particularly for public companies.
Jones Day represented the TotalEnergies entities in this matter.
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