Total will not renew its membership of the American Petroleum Institute (API) for 2021 due to differences from the main US oil lobby on climate policy, the French oil and gas supermajor said Friday.
For 2019 and 2020, Total found that API’s positions were “partially aligned” with their own, but some differences remain. Those include API’s support for rolling back US methane emissions regulations, which Total opposed in November 2019, and API’s membership of the Transportation Fairness Alliance, which opposes subsidies for electric vehicles. The API also has positions other than Total’s with regard to carbon pricing.
In addition, during the recent elections, API backed candidates opposed to the United States’ participation in the Paris Agreement, Total said in a statement.
“As part of our climate ambition, which was made public in May 2020, we are committed to ensuring in a transparent manner that the industry associations of which we are members adopt positions and messages consistent with those of the Group in the fight against climate change, ”said Total Chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanné.
Total is betting on profitable growth in its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and renewable energy business as part of its new strategy and net zero agenda.
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Pouyanné told French newspaper Le Parisien in September that the company wants to be one of the top five renewable energy producers in the world. The company’s operating mix today is 55 percent oil, 40 percent gas and less than 5 percent electricity from renewables, Pouyanné said, noting that Total’s operations will be divided into 20 percent oil, 40 percent gas and 40 percent by 2050. percent renewable energy. .
Total isn’t the only European-based oil supermodel to leave the major US oil lobbies due to differences in climate policies.
Last year, BP closed three U.S. energy trade associations, the main refining lobby group, the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), the Western Energy Alliance (WEA), and the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), after finding in an in-depth assessment that these three associations do not have a climate policy in line with BP’s goals and its support for the Paris Agreement. A year earlier, Shell stopped the refining lobby due to ‘material misalignment’ in climate-related positions.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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