The French “nugget” Blablacar has been largely and for a long time financed by Total thanks to a financial package with an eco-responsible feel, reveals the newspaper Le Monde.
Carpooling is a good way to travel in a more environmentally friendly way, avoiding putting as many cars as there are people on the road. But what happens when this means of travel is sponsored by Total, a hydrocarbon giant? As revealed by an investigation by the newspaper Le Monde, the French startup Blablacar would indeed have received large sums of money from the energy multinational, wishing to green its image.
A windfall for Blablacar
As the evening daily explains, around 2012, the company that was not yet called TotalEnergies saw new obligations imposed by the State. In order to support the ecological transition, the company must support a certain number of actions in favor of energy sobriety. These efforts are measured by “Energy Savings Certificates” (EEC) which can be acquired from structures approved by the State.
Cleverly, the French oil company decided to stock up on CEE by supporting carpooling, an industry entirely compatible with its economic model. At the time, Blablacar was the only carpooling company able to benefit from the EWC mechanism. An agreement was then made between Total and Blablacar: each driver registered on the platform generates several dozen euros for the startup and allows Total to easily acquire CEEs.
Publicly, the arrangement is approved by the Ministry of Ecology and Blablacar even offers “fuel cards” to its new registrants, to be used at the energy giant’s service stations of course. Problem is, the details of the agreement were kept secret and Blablacar was the only carpooling company to benefit from this “CEE market” for many years. THE “world leader in carpooling», as qualified by Emmanuel Macron in 2022, can then develop quickly and even buys its competitor Klaxit in April 2023.
Carpooling is not taking off in France
The same year, a new system opening wider access to other platforms was put in place to appease the discontent of players in the sector. All carpooling services are eligible and a “bonus” of 100 euros is even offered to new motorists sharing their vehicles, via the companies concerned.
This massive state support mechanism is based on the principle that “each new registrant will make 225 journeys per year for the next five years», specifies Le Monde. Except that in reality, more than half of the beneficiaries of the bonus achieved “less than ten journeys in 2023“. Enough to minimize the hoped-for reduction in greenhouse gases while making people believe in the success of the system.
Concretely, however, the number of cars in circulation in France is not decreasing, on the contrary. According to figures from the Ministry of Ecological Transition, 38.9 million vehicles would have traveled the roads of France in 2023, a figure up slightly since 2016. A 2022 report even indicates that “only 3% of passengers say they have carpooled for their car trips» and that “lhe vehicle occupancy rate remains almost stable between 2008 and 2019» with 1.4 people per car on average. Enough to doubt the success of these numerous carpooling plans.
Source : The world
10