Regulators in Europe are focused on punishing energy firms that make deceptive claims on net zero targets, as TotalEnergies recently discovered.

In an Oct. 23 landmark greenwashing judgment, the Paris Judicial Court found that TotalEnergies’ statements on its website were misleading. It ordered the energy giant to remove specific statements within 30 days and publish a link to the ruling for 180 days, or face fines of €10,000 a day.

Ruth Prickett graduated from Cambridge University with a BA hons in History and has specialized in business and finance journalism for the past 20 years. She was editor of Financial Management, the magazine...