A French civil court ruled that TotalEnergies misled consumers through its 2021 advertising campaign by falsely suggesting it could achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, marking the first time France’s greenwashing law has been applied to a major energy company.

The court ordered the oil and gas giant to remove from its website all references to carbon neutrality and energy transition deemed misleading. It also directed TotalEnergies to publish a link to the legal judgment on its website for 180 days or face fines of up to €20,000 per day.

Additionally, the company must pay €8,000 ($9,330) in damages to each of the three environmental groups — Friends of the Earth France, Greenpeace France, and Notre Affaire à Tous — that filed the lawsuit, along with €15,000 to cover their legal costs.

In response, TotalEnergies said the ruling concerned general statements about its corporate ambitions rather than specific advertisements for its energy products. “TotalEnergies … will draw the conclusions of this judgment regarding the content of its website,” the company said in a statement.

The court cited findings from the International Energy Agency (IEA), the UN Environment Programme, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), all of which highlight the urgent need to reduce fossil fuel production to meet Paris Agreement targets.

It referenced the IEA’s call for an end to new oil and gas field development, noting that TotalEnergies’ continued expansion of fossil fuel projects conflicted with its public alignment to the Paris goals.

However, the court declined to rule on whether TotalEnergies’ claims regarding natural gas and biofuels or its 2050 carbon scenario were misleading.

The environmental groups welcomed the verdict as “a historic victory,” noting it was the first global case to hold a major fossil fuel firm legally accountable for misleading the public about its environmental commitments.

The ruling comes amid a growing international crackdown on corporate greenwashing. Although the European Union has proposed stricter measures to regulate environmental claims, talks on enforcement and penalties remain stalled.