Three of Europe's largest energy companies—Eni, TotalEnergies, and Engie—posted record carbon credit activity in 2025, with nature-based solutions (NbS) at the centre of each company's strategy. The announcements, each disclosed in annual ESG or sustainability reports, point to deepening corporate commitment to NbS credits as a tool for managing residual emissions across complex, long-cycle operations.
Young tree saplings growing in a green field with wind turbines in the background. AI generated picture.
Italian energy company Eni retired 7 million tonnes of CO₂-equivalent (tCO₂e) worth of carbon credits in 2025—a 19% increase from the 5.9 million tCO₂e retired in each of the two prior years. All credits were registered with Verra, the US-based standard, and were generated primarily by forest-protection and cookstoves projects.
The retirements helped Eni achieve a 68% reduction in its upstream Scope 1 and 2 emissions compared to its 2018 baseline—exceeding its 65% target for the year. Net upstream emissions stood at 4.7 million tCO₂e by year-end.
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French energy major TotalEnergies grew its carbon credit portfolio to 17.9 million tonnes by the end of 2025, after spending a record $73 million on NbS credits during the year. The company, which is building towards a planned 50-million-tonne portfolio by 2030, has committed a cumulative budget of $650 million to carbon projects over their expected lifespan.
Credits are held across forestry, regenerative agriculture, and wetlands-protection projects, all verified by international standards including Verra, the American Carbon Registry (ACR), and Australia's National Registry of Emissions Units. TotalEnergies plans to begin retiring these credits from 2030 at a rate of 5 million tonnes per year to address residual Scope 1 and 2 emissions.
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Engie, one of France's largest power producers, retired 76,252 tCO₂e in 2025—a sharp increase from the 1,721 tCO₂e retired in 2024, its first year of retirements. The jump followed the signing of four long-term carbon credit supply agreements during the year, including two afforestation and reforestation programmes in France and the United Kingdom covering more than 200 small-scale projects.
The projects were developed in partnership with the Shared Wood Company and certified under France's Label Bas Carbone scheme and the UK's Woodland Carbon Code. Engie plans to retire nature-based credits through to 2030, before shifting its focus to carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies as part of a longer-term pathway to net zero by 2045.
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Taken together, the three disclosures reflect a market in which energy-sector demand for NbS credits continues to grow—and in which long-term supply agreements are becoming the preferred procurement model. For project developers and credit buyers alike, the trend underscores the role that high-quality, verified NbS projects play in corporate environmental strategies.
At Green Earth, we develop and manage a portfolio of nature-based projects across Africa, Asia, and beyond—each independently verified to international standards. Our credits are available to organisations looking to take measurable and meaningful action on their environmental footprint.
