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France's Total has finalized a name change to TotalEnergies SE
and unveiled a new logo, signaling a new phase in its transition to
net zero.
The updated name got the green light from shareholders during a
vote at the company's annual general meeting on 28 May.
Total proposed the name change when it presented its full-year
2020 results in February. The
company explained a plan to sharpen its focus on LNG, renewables,
and electricity, while oil product sales would drop from 55% to 30%
of sales by 2030.
The company previously changed its legal business
entity standing to Total SE, effective in July of last year. It
transitioned from an SA, or a Société Anonyme under French law, to
an SE, or a Societas Europaea under European Union law. Adopting
the SE entity type enables easy transference of a registered office
to another EU member state, according to Deloitte.
Alongside the latest name change, the company released a statement about its renewable
energy targets. "Our ambition is to be a world-class player in the
energy transition. That is why Total is transforming and becoming
TotalEnergies," CEO Patrick Pouyanné said in the statement.
The rainbow-colored logo is said to represent its focus on seven
energy segment areas: oil, natural gas, electricity, hydrogen,
biomass, wind, and solar.
Total plans to increase its production of biogas and biofuels to
at least 4,000 GWh per year and 5 million st per year,
respectively. It has previously announced plans to start selling
cooking oil-based sustainable aviation fuel to French airports this
year, a move that could benefit from the passage of a French bill
targeting emissions, including in aviation.
Hydrogen is another growing fuel and energy segment for the
company. Total honed in on French hydrogen taxi and refueling
station company Hysetco, which operates in the departement
surrounding Paris, acquiring a 20% stake, according to 26 May statement.
Following net-zero pledges by fellow European oil companies like
BP and Eni, Total announced plans to reach net zero for its global
operations by 2050 (in mt CO2e) in a joint statement with institutional
investors in May 2020. It also aims for a 60% or more reduction in
the average carbon intensity of the energy products used by its
customers by 2050 (Scopes 1, 2, 3).
The French major wants to develop 100 GW of renewable energy by
2030, supported by $60 billion in investments over the next decade.
Making headway on this goal over the past 12 months, it added 10 GW
to its renewable energy portfolio to reach 35 GW of installed
capacity, more than 20 GW of which was backed by long-term power
purchase agreements (PPAs), according to its 2020 results
statement.
In line with these ambitions, Total launched a Spanish PV
development pipeline when its solar power operation affiliate,
Total Solar International, acquired 2 GW of projects last year.
Total also agreed to acquire a 20% stake of Indian solar developer
Adani Green Energy in January.
Total grew its solar PV pipeline using long-term PPAs in 2020,
notably in Spain, where it claimed to be the offtaker of
the largest PPA in the world (3 GW) from its own Spanish PV sites,
part of greening energy supplies for its industrial locations.
Not stopping there, the major plans on developing the 1.1-GW
Seagreen offshore wind project in Scotland, the 500-MW Bada
offshore wind project in South Korea, and the Erebus floating
offshore wind power demonstration project in Welsh waters.
Even though it has changed its name and focus, TotalEnergies'
American subsidiary, Total E&P USA, owns assets including
deepwater oil production in the Gulf of Mexico as well as
unconventional oil and gas assets in the Barnett Shale play. The
group also markets fracking fluid.
Total is not the only European energy company to change its name
in recent years. French gas, power, and energy services supplier
GDF Suez changed its name to Engie following a 2015
commitment to the then nascent energy transition.
On the path to becoming a major offshore wind developer, Danish
oil and natural gas producer Dong changed its name to Ørsted in
2017. This week, at an investor conference, Ørsted announced plans
to spend $57 billion through 2027 to "become the world's leading
green energy major by 2030," according to an investor presentation
document. Its target is 50 GW of renewable generation capacity
by 2030.
Posted 03 June 2021 by Cristina Brooks, Senior Journalist, Climate and Sustainability
