In 2022, TotalEnergies made two new commitments to biodiversity: zero net deforestation for all our future projects, and the adoption of biodiversity action plans at all our sites. These plans commit the Company to not only restoring the environment where it operates, but to leaving it in better condition than before the project began, with a net gain in biodiversity.
The Sustainable Development Goals are also at the heart of the Company’s actions in Africa. We want our industrial projects and long‑term commitments in the Republic of the Congo, Angola and Nigeria to be exemplary. Our projects for developing oil resources in Uganda (Tilenga) and Tanzania (EACOP) with low carbon intensity incorporated impact avoidance and reduction measures from the very outset.
Papua New Guinea (PNG) is home to 7% of the world’s biodiversity, concentrated on less than 1% of the planet’s surface. The Papua LNG project has been designed to comply with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The Upstream affiliate in PNG has chosen to reduce the carbon intensity of the project by reinjecting native CO2 from the first day of production, a first on this scale, and by choosing the option of electric liquefaction trains. The affiliate is working with the country’s forest authority to ensure the reforestation of 1,000 ha of forest, of which 125 ha were already planted by 2022, with the replanted forest area far exceeding the project’s footprint. The Company also ensures that this will result in net gain in the country’s biodiversity. Thanks to these reforestation projects, Papua LNG also created more than 70 local jobs in 2022, with 100 additional positions starting up in 2023.
The affiliate also appointed a panel of independent experts known as the Independent Advisory Panel (IAP) to offer recommendations on our biodiversity and community projects, which are then made public (www.papualng.com.pg). By going beyond industry standards, the Company hopes to prove that natural gas projects, which are strategically key to the energy transition, can also enhance community development and regional biodiversity.
