PARIS (AP) – French oil and gas company Total said it has decided to withdraw from the American Petroleum Institute energy organization because it disagrees on climate-related policies.
Total said in a statement Friday that it would not renew its membership until 2021 after analyzing API’s position on climate issues that showed “certain differences.”
Specifically, the company cites APIs “support during the recent elections to candidates opposing the United States’ participation” in the 2015 Paris Agreement to combat climate change. Total also pointed to divergent views on methane emissions regulation, electric vehicle subsidies and the carbon-pricing principle aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Total says it is working on cleaner energy and its CEO, Patrick Pouyanné, said the group wants to ensure that “the industry associations of which we are members adopt positions and messages that align with those of the group in the fight against climate. change.”
The API said in a statement Friday that “we believe the global energy and environmental challenges are so great that many different approaches are needed to solve them, and we benefit from a diversity of views.” With more than 600 members, API represents all segments of the US oil and natural gas industry.
The API added that it “does not support subsidizing energy because it disrupts the market and ultimately harms consumers.”
Peter Frumhoff, the director of science and policy at the US-based Union of Concerned Scientists, said Total’s decision to leave the group was significant.
“It’s very important for an oil company to take a position that basically leaves the big trade association here in the United States,” he told The Associated Press.
Frumhoff said the move came just days after API’s president, Mike Summers, delivered a speech in which he said the group would fight against regulation of methane emissions, restrictions on drilling on public land, and support for electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
He added that Total’s decision put pressure on other oil companies, BP and Shell, both of which said they want to fight greenhouse gas emissions, “to shut up their political power and do the same.”
President-elect Joe Biden, who has said he wants to focus on the fight against climate change, has promised that the US will rejoin the Paris accord on the first day of his presidency.
The API emphasized that Summers said earlier this week that the association was ready to “work with the Biden administration on policy solutions” that would enable further methane emission reductions, including by examining “the possibility of further regulation in this area.”
_____
Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.