Sixty NGOs have signed an open letter calling on banks and investors to stop participating in bonds issued by TotalEnergies.

The NGOs, including Reclaim Finance and Banktrack, want banks and investors to stop participating in bonds issued by the company because they believe it is engaging in a “climate-wrecking strategy by developing new oil and gas projects, ignoring scientific recommendations to limit global warming to 1.5C”.

The letter comes just days after TotalEnergies raised $4.25bn on the bond market, with the help of several banks, including BPCE/Natixis, Standard Chartered and Deutsche Bank.

Bonds are particularly useful to TotalEnergies given that some banks, particularly French banks, have pledged to stop directly financing some of its more controversial projects such as the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP).

Lara Cuvelier, sustainable investment campaigner at Reclaim Finance, said: “The NGOs are calling on the banks to commit to no longer facilitating the issue of new bonds by TotalEnergies or any other company developing new oil and gas projects. They are also calling on investors to stop investing in new bonds issued by TotalEnergies and to make a public commitment not to invest in bonds issued by any company developing new oil and gas projects.”

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