According to observers, this summer is proving to be one of the most brutal yet. Intense heatwaves are killing thousands of people, flash floods are submerging entire towns, and wildfires are sweeping through regions once considered safe. These are all symptoms of a climate crisis driven by fossil fuel dependence.
Amid this unfolding emergency, TotalEnergies has announced another quarter of record profits. Those profits have reportedly been boosted by the instability that drives higher oil and gas prices, while ordinary people continue to pay the price through higher fuel costs, rising energy bills, and the growing impacts of climate-fuelled disasters.
TotalEnergies’ adjusted net income jumped by 68 per cent from a year earlier to $6 billion for the second quarter of 2026 as the jump in oil prices and refining margins boosted earnings and cash flows.
The French supermajor, on Thursday, July 23, 2026, reported an adjusted net income of $6 billion, which met analyst expectations and rose by 12 per cent from the first quarter and by 68 per cent from the $3.578 billion for the second quarter of 2025.
TotalEnergies attributed the increase to the high-price environment and the rise in refining and petrochemical margins. Strong performance of crude oil and petroleum products trading activities, at the same level as the high first-quarter trading result, also boosted earnings.
“Despite a lower lifting level because of difficulties to access the Strait of Hormuz, Exploration & Production posted adjusted net operating income of $3.2 billion and cash flow of $5.8 billion, up by more than 25 per cent over the quarter, capturing the increase in the average selling price of liquids,” CEO, Patrick Pouyanné, said in a statement.
TotalEnergies’ average oil selling price jumped by $17.90 per barrel compared to the first quarter of 2026.
But 350.org has called for the era of impunity for big polluters to end, adding that there is an opportunity to make that happen at the fifth round of negotiations on the UN Convention on International Tax Cooperation, which opens on Monday, August 3, 2026, in New York.
“This genuinely multilateral forum aims to deliver a global treaty by 2027 to end corporate tax evasion and opacity, and establish fairer taxation rules. Governments could use it to make oil and gas majors pay for their role in the climate crisis, funding lasting protection for affected populations,” submitted the group.
Fanny Petitbon, 350.org Country Manager for France, said: “TotalEnergies’ latest results are not ordinary corporate earnings but a receipt for climate chaos. The company shamelessly cashes in on monstrous profits generated during a period of worsening climate breakdown that it helped fuel, alongside economic disruption and geopolitical conflict. Every spike in fossil fuel prices acts as an unofficial tax on people: increasing the cost of transport, electricity and food, while governments spend billions responding to disasters and shielding households from volatile energy markets.
