Following a detailed analysis of the climate positions of the American Petroleum Institute (API), Total has announced its decision not to renew its membership for 2021.

Each year, Total assesses the main industry associations of which it is a member to ensure they are aligned with the group’s climate positions. This alignment review is based on six key points:

1. The company’s science-based position that the link between human activity and climate change is an established fact;
2. The company’s support for the objectives of the Paris Agreement;
3. Total’s belief in the necessity to implement carbon pricing;
4. Total’s confidence in the key role that natural gas plays in the energy transition;
5. The company’s support for policies and initiatives that promote the development of renewable energy; and
6. Its support for the development of CO₂ capture and storage.

These items are detailed in the company’s Getting to Net Zero report issued in September 2020.

Following the 2019 and 2020 reviews, API’s positions were assessed as ‘partially aligned’ with those of the group.

Total notes that certain divergences, discussed within the association, remain today:

• Regarding the role of natural gas, API maintains its support for the rollback of U.S. regulation on methane emissions, which the Group opposed in November 2019;
• Regarding transport decarbonisation, API is part of the Transportation Fairness Alliance, which is opposed to subsidies for electric vehicles; and
• Regarding the carbon pricing principle, API expresses differing positions to those of Total.

Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and CEO of Total, commented that the group acknowledges the API’s considerable contribution, for over a century, to the development of the industry.

“Nevertheless, as part of our Climate Ambition made public in May 2020, we are committed to ensuring, in a transparent manner, that the industry associations of which we are a member adopt positions and messages that are aligned with those of the Group in the fight against climate change,” Mr Pouyanné said.

“This transparency responds to our stakeholders’ expectations, as well as being an essential guarantee of the credibility of our strategy.”