Greenpeace reserves a new tackle for TotalEnergies (ex-Total). The NGO wants to kick the oil and gas company out of the field. “Exclude TotalEnergies from your sponsors”, she wrote, Wednesday April 6, in an open letter to Claude Atcher, general manager of the next 2023 Rugby World Cup in France. The company has the rank of official sponsor of the competition, in the same way as the SNCF, Orange, the GMF or even Vivendi.
For the association for the defense of the environment, the war in Ukraine makes the company’s participation all the less acceptable. She accuses the company, since February 24, of maintaining its major gas projects in Russia. A country “whose regime is guilty of war crimescontinues the open letter. Is it to these activities that the world of rugby wants to associate its values? »
In June 2021, Greenpeace protested Total’s intrusion into the fray. It was then a question of invoking the impact of hydrocarbons in global warming
Believing that “the multinational uses the popular and sympathetic image enjoyed by rugby to restore a tarnished image”, the non-governmental organization has posted an online petition in support of its request. In its argument, the missive also cites a decision by World Rugby. From the end of February, the international federation of this sport reacted to the din of the news: it excluded, until further notice, Russia and Belarus from any possible participation in its events – the Russians have already taken takes part in two of the nine editions of the Men’s World Cup, including that of 2019 in Japan, the latest to date.
“Worst Partner”
Already, in June 2021, Greenpeace had protested against the major’s intrusion into the fray. It was then a question of invoking environmental reasons, and in particular the impact of hydrocarbons on global warming. According to Edina Ifticene, “oil” campaign manager for the NGO, the 2023 World Cup “could not have chosen a worse partner for his tournament as well as for his ambitions to organize a climate-virtuous event”. Before the outbreak of the conflict, the French organizers had met with Greenpeace to address the issue of the planet. Promised, they want to set up a competition “with the lowest impact on the climate, biodiversity and high social impact”they said, in a press release, in December 2021.
Contacted Tuesday at the end of the day, Mr. Atcher, who had first allowed the French Rugby Federation to obtain the awarding of the event, did not respond to our request.
In 2019, faced with the reluctance of the Parisian municipality, Total ended up giving up associating its name with the 2024 Olympic Games. While obtaining, a year later, the local market for public electric charging stations.
