French Total rebrands with strong shareholder support
French energy company Total has received the almost unanimous backing of shareholders for its proposed change of name to TotalEnergies (TE), it said May 28.
This change, first announced in February, “anchors its strategic transformation into a broad energy company in its identity. In tandem with this name change, TotalEnergies is adopting a new visual identity,” it said.
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CEO Patrick Pouyanne said: “To contribute to the sustainable development of the planet facing the climate challenge, we are moving forward, together, towards new energies. Energy is reinventing itself, and this energy journey is ours. Our ambition is to be a world-class player in the energy transition. That is why Total is transforming and becoming TotalEnergies.”
Well-trodden path
A number of companies and organisations have rebranded themselves in recent years. Equinor, Lundin Energy, Deltec Energy and industry group OGUK have replaced Statoil, Lundin Petroleum, Cluff Natural Resources and Oil & Gas UK respectively.
As climate change concerns grow and financing becomes harder, they have sought to disassociate themselves from the commodities that they are invested in and that have created so much wealth – as well as caused a lot of damage to the natural world.
But this has not been a problem for new companies – Harbour Energy and Neptune Energy spring to mind – who captured the mood before launching themselves into the market.
UK major BP was probably the first to change, ditching British Petroleum under John Browne’s leadership in favour of simply BP in 2000. The green and slanting letters represented ‘Beyond Petroleum’ but this change was not accompanied by the actions necessary to back it up and so it was seen as cynical greenwashing. For years nothing much changed within the company. But under Bernard Looney, it is now a much more apt slogan.
Anglo Dutch Shell never had the nominal link with petroleum, using a pecten shell as its logo; although that did not save it from the Dutch court decision May 26. And staying within Europe, the hydrocarbons that Eni produces are reduced to the third letter of its name: idrocarburi.
However Total is probably the first predominantly oil and gas exploration and refining company to change its name without having to draw a veil over these activities which, it says, will enable it to fund its green growth. Even its previous acquisitions Elf and Fina were free from those associations. It has also made its name longer.