Total proposes name change to TotalEnergies

Total Chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanné announced that its Board of Directors has decided to change the name of the company to TotalEnergies.

The company will propose this change to shareholders during the company’s annual meeting on May 28. If the resolution is passed, Total will officially become TotalEnergies.

“A new name is a new commitment. It explicitly states what we want to be: a leader in a world with more energies and fewer emissions. The company of responsible energies,” Pouyanné said.

“TotalEnergies says that we are serious about becoming a broad energy group, but also expresses the energies of our teams and our full commitment to the climate issue, which is immense, but vital for humanity.

“Total has always supported the objectives of the Paris Agreement, which is why we started a significant move towards new energies in 2016, so that we could continue to fulfil our mission to provide more affordable, more reliable and cleaner energy, in the best way.

“More energy and fewer emissions. This is the two-fold challenge that the world, and more particularly the energy sector, has to face, and that we at Total intend to meet.

“This is a major movement, a transformation to become the responsible energy company, which puts sustainability, and sustainable development, at the heart of its strategy.

“The Board of Directors wanted to root this transformation in our identity.”

Pouyanné made the announcement during the company’s earnings report, wherein Total announced a net loss of USD7.2 billion in 2020, after recording exceptional asset impairments of USD10 billion, notably on Canadian oil sands  assets. Total faced two major crises in 2020: the Covid-19 pandemic that severely affected global energy demand, and the oil  crisis that drove the price of Brent crude below USD20 per barrel in the second quarter of 2020. 

After reducing operating costs by USD1.1 billion in 2020 compared to 2019, Total is targetting additional savings of USD0.5 billion in 2021.  

Faced with uncertainties in the environment, net investments are projected at USD12 billion in 2021, while  preserving the flexibility to mobilize additional investments should the oil and gas environment strengthen.  

In 2021, Total will allocate more than 20% of its net investments to Renewables and Electricity.  Already, in 2021, Total has announced more than 10 GW of additional projects through  the acquisition of a 20% stake in Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL), the world’s leading solar developer,  a partnership with Hanwha in the United States with a 1.6 GW portfolio, and the acquisition of a 2.2 GW  portfolio of projects in Texas.