Environmental challenges

Table of contents:

• Environmental challenges
• General policy and environmental targets
• Preventing risks of accidental pollution
• Limiting the environmental footprint of the Company activities
• Managing damage to biodiversity and ecosystems during projects and operations
• Promoting the circular economy
• Environmental and social impact assessments

Environmental challenges

The reporting initiatives and frameworks that are being set up, such as the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), consider nature as whole, through a combination of four realms: land, oceans, freshwater and the atmosphere.

For a company like TotalEnergies, caring for the environment in our activities includes all these realms.

 

Learn more on our Company’s environmental challenges

General policy and environmental targets

Our ambition is based on four pillars: respecting our voluntary exclusion zones, preserving biodiversity in our projects and on our existing sites important for the environment, and promoting biodiversity. It is based on the Act4Nature International commitments we have made since 2018.

Our approach is to reconcile the development of energy resources with the protection of biodiversity to build a sustainable future. We apply the Mitigation Hierarchy approach of Avoidance, Reduction/Restoration and Compensation to all our operations and projects. In concrete terms, we implement environmental impact assessments for all our projects, including for renewable energy projects, in all countries where we operate.

 

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Targets environment

TotalEnergies places the environment at the heart of its ambition of being a responsible company with a goal to improve the environmental performance of its facilities.

About the Environment management system

Target: Have the environment management systems of sites important for the environment, certified to the ISO14001 standard (Production sites of the subsidiaries of the Exploration & Production segment, sites producing more than 250 kt/y in the Refining & Chemicals and Marketing & Services segments, as well as gas-fired power plants in the Integrated Gas, Renewables and Power segment, operated by the Company).

Facts: 100% of the sites important for the environment certified to the ISO 14001 standard in 2022.

About air

New target: Decrease sulfur dioxide emissions into the air by 75% between 2015 and 2030, a target that amounts to not exceeding 15 kt emitted in 2030.

Facts: 69% reduction in sulfur dioxide emissions into the air, excluding conjunctural events, between 2015 and 2022.

About water:

• New target: Reduce the freshwater withdrawal of the sites located in water stress area by 20% between 2021 and 2030.
• Limit the hydrocarbon content of water discharges to below 30 mg/l for offshore sites.
• New target: Limit the hydrocarbon content of water discharges to below 1 mg/l for onshore and coastal sites by 2030.

Facts:

• Stabilization of withdrawal in water stress area and launch of major resource preservation projects (preservation target of 9 Mcm/y).
• 93% of the Company’s oil sites met the target for the quality of offshore discharges in 2022.
• 73% of the Company’s oil sites met the new target for the quality of onshore discharges in 2022.

About waste

New target: Recycle more than 70% of the waste from sites operated by the Company’s subsidiaries by 2030.

Facts: 61% of the waste produced by sites operated by the Company’s subsidiaries excluding digestate from biogas units was recycled in 2022.

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Commitment: Implement a net zero deforestation policy in new projects on new sites approved from 2022 onwards
Facts: No deforestation action took place on new projects on new sites approved on 2022

Commitment: Implement the biodiversity ambition in the 4 areas presented in 2022 Universal Registration Document (chapter 5, section 5.5.4)
Facts: No oil and gas exploration or production activity in the area of natural sites listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List

Commitment axis 1: Voluntary exclusions zones
Facts: No exploration activity in oil fields under sea ice in the Arctic

Commitment axis 2: Biodiversity management in projects
Facts: 7 biodiversity action plans deployed or in preparation in 2021 for projects located in protected areas¹ and/or aligned with IFC standards

Commitment axis 3: Biodiversity management at existing and abandoned sites
Facts: 43 biodiversity assessments carried out on sites important² for the environment in 2022

Commitment axis 4: Promoting biodiversity
Facts: World Environment Day was celebrated in 2022 on the theme of biodiversity, thereby raising awareness among the Company's employees.

18 citations in scientific publications of biodiversity datasets produced by the Company and shared in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) database.

¹ Sites located in a IUCN I to IV or Ramsar convention protected area
² Production sites of the subsidiaries in the Exploration-Production segment, production sites exceeding 250 kt/year in the Refining-Chemicals and Marketing & Services segments, and gas-fired power plants in the Integrated Gas, Renewables & Power segment that are operated by the Company.

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Preventing risks of accidental pollution

To prevent accidental risks and, in particular, major spills that could reach the environment, TotalEnergies implements appropriate risk management policies

 

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Limiting the environmental footprint of the Company activities

TotalEnergies implements a policy of avoiding, reducing and, where necessary, offsetting the footprint of its operations on the environment and on nature by setting up measures to protect environments (air, water, soil) and sustainability using resources (water, soil).

 

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TotalEnergies and Water

107 million cubic meters: this is the volume of fresh water (salinity less than 2 g/l) withdrawn by TotalEnergies in 2022 (excluding open-loop cooling water).

Quality of aqueous discharges of the company

Average hydrocarbon content of aqueous discharges in 2022:

• For our offshore sites: 12,9 mg/l,
• For our onshore sites: 1,8 mg/l.

Our 2030 objectives

Objective of reducing withdrawals in aeras of water stress: less than 20 %.

Quality goals releases by 2030

• For our offshore sites: inferior to 30 mg/l,
• For our onshore sites: inferior to 1 mg/l.

Sites currently compliant with 2030 targets:

• Offshore sites: 93 %,
• Onshore sites: 73 %.

Learn more on limiting the environmental footprint of the Company activities

Learn more about the CEO Water Mandate

Consult TotalEnergies’ response to the CDP Water Security questionnaire

Managing damage to biodiversity and ecosystems during projects and operations

In 2016, the Company pledged to contribute to the achievement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including those relating to biodiversity. Since 2018, TotalEnergies has been a signatory to the Act4Nature initiative promoted by the French Association of Enterprises for the Environment, now act4nature international alliance.

In 2020, TotalEnergies set itself a new global biodiversity ambition to coincide with the preparation of the United Nations’ global biodiversity plan, and updated its public commitments in this field. This ambition has been incorporated into the Company’s One MAESTRO framework.

Learn more on managing damage to biodiversity and ecosystems during projects and operations

Promoting the circular economy

We are actors of the circular economy through our production of biofuels, biogas and circular polymers. For biofuels, we have set an objective of increasing the share of circular feedstock (used cooking oil and animal fat) from 50% to more than 75% as from 2024. Biogas production relies primarily on agricultural waste.

At our sites, promoting circular management of resources starts with responsible management of our waste.

 

Learn more on promoting the circular economy

TotalEnergies, founding member of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste

In March 2022, we joined the Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy (PACE)

Environmental and social impact assessments

When a new industrial site is developed, a baseline study must be conducted. This is supplemented by environmental and social impact assessments that measure and analyze actual and potential impact, positive and negative, direct, indirect or cumulative, in the short, medium and long term of the project.

Those studies are generally part of a public process involving stakeholder consultation.

The Company’s significant projects are listed below by country (alphabetical order):

Guyana

• Impact assessment of the drilling project of the Guyane Maritime permit (In french only) (March 2018)

Ivory Coast

• Environmental and social impact assessment for Exploration drilling wells on offshore blocks CI-705 and CI-706 (2021): Ivory Coast official News Paper – Ministerial Order 6th July 2021

Lebanon

• Environmental and social impact assessment on Bloc 4 (July 2019)

Mozambique

• Environmental impact assessment of the Mozambique LNG project

Myanmar

• Initial environmental assessment on the 3D seismic project on Bloc YWB (October 2017)

Namibia

• Seismic proposal on Blocks 2912 and 2913B (June 2020)
• Environmental and social impact assessment of exploration and appraisal of the block 2912 (2022): https://www.slrconsulting.com/en/public-documents/teepna-2912

Ouganda

• Environmental and social impact assessment of the Tilenga project (February 2019)
• Environmental and social impact assessment of the EACOP project (January 2019)

Papoua New-Guinea

• Human Rights impact assessment (202) on PRL15: https://www.humanrights.dk/sites/humanrights.dk/files/media/document/~%2019_02922-15%20papua_lng_hria_summary_report_final_feb2019%20-%20fd%20461989_1_1.PDF

Sao Tome

• Environmental and social impact assessment of Block 1 (in Portuguese)

South Africa

• Environmental and social impact assessment Exploration drilling for block 567 (2022): https://www.slrconsulting.com/en/public-documents/TEEPSA-567
• Environmental and social impact assessment Exploration drilling for block DWOB (2022): https://www.slrconsulting.com/en/public-documents/TEEPSA-DWOB
• Environmental and social impact assessment Exploration drilling for block 11B12B (2022): https://www.wsp.com/-/media/service/south-africa/2022-documents/proposed-offshore-production-right-and-environmental-autorisation-applications-for-block-11b-12b/1-221128teepsablock11b12bdraftscopingreportfinalprint28nov22.pdf

Tanzania

• Environmental and social impact assessment of the EACOP project (August 2019)

United States

• Environmental impact assessments of the South Platte project are available on the BSEE website (Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement) – reference G36155