It was a well-kept secret. Now it’s out in the open. With €323 billion in assets, Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC) is one of the French government’s main financial arms. Three-quarters of the money it manages comes from French people’s savings, particularly the regulated “Livret A” savings accounts. By deciding where to invest this money, CDC plays a key role in supporting the French economy, theoretically serving the needs of the population and the public interest.

We now know that a significant portion of this money is invested in the oil and gas group TotalEnergies.

For at least ten years, many voices from civil society have been calling on the Caisse des Dépôts to shed light on its investments in coal, oil and gas, the main causes of the climate crisis. The venerable financial institution, which was founded in 1816, has announced steps to gradually align its operations with 1.5°C climate scenarios and to reduce its investments in fossil fuels. But until now, it had always refused to disclose any detail about these investments or to even confirmed that it held a stake in TotalEnergies

Transparent... only in the United States

A document submitted recently to the US financial authorities finally lifts the veil. According to this report, which lists all of its investments in companies listed in the US, Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations held just over 30 million TotalEnergies shares as of 31 December 2025, worth $1.98 billion (€1.69 billion). This represents approximately 1.37% of the capital of TotalEnergies, making the Caisse – and the French State – one of the oil and gas giant’s largest shareholders.

Last year, the NGO Reclaim Finance has criticised the lack of transparency of Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, which does not publish “either the list of companies in its share and bond portfolios, or details about its votes at general meetings [particularly on climate resolutions, editor’s note] for the companies in which it is a shareholder”.

In its response, CDC talked of the “national and regional issues of sovereignty, infrastructure, employment, innovation and the sustainability of French assets, which it must, as a long-term public investor, deal with responsibly”. This was already a way of defending its shareholding in TotalEnergies, but without lifting the taboo.

All that was known until now was that CDC held €9.2 billion in investments in companies active in fossil fuels, including €1.1 billion in green bonds in the electricity sector. Its holdings in TotalEnergies’ capital almost a quarter of these investments.

“When Caisse des Dépôts chooses to invest in TotalEnergies, it endorses the company’s false climate strategy, which contradicts climate science, says Agathe Masson, investor campaign manager at Reclaim Finance. As one of the group’s largest shareholders, Caisse des Dépôts is using French people’s savings to support a company that is multiplying climate bombs, with devastating consequences for biodiversity and people."

Are fossil fuels acceptable as long as they are French?

The list of Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations’ holdings in US-listed companies includes all the big names of American capitalism, such as Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple, Coca-Cola, Nike and Pfizer, for sums ranging from a few million to tens of millions of dollars, far less than the value of the shares held in TotalEnergies.

Other significant holdings reported include other European companies that are listed across the Atlantic, such as UBS ($369 million) and Linde ($315 million).

Notably absent from this list are US fossil fuel giants such as Chevron and ExxonMobil. Last year, Caisse des Dépôts announced that it had excluded 12 oil and gas multinationals from its portfolio. This suggests that it has a policy of excluding companies that are heavy emitters of greenhouse gases... except when they are French.

Unlike the Agence des participations de l’État (State Shareholding Agency) or Bpifrance, the other arms of the State that hold shares in various companies, Caisse des dépôts et consignations theoretically has the role of a passive institutional investor, that simply manages its holdings to generate income. However, it is not the first time it is being used as a discreet proxy for the government and government-linked interests. It has long had a significant stake in groups such as Veolia, where it has effectively acted as the reference shareholder. Its stake in TotalEnergies could earn it more than €100 million in dividends this year.

A “national champion” on trial

The Caisse’s stake in TotalEnergies may be explained by a desire to secure a minimal French public shareholding in the capital of this ‘national champion’. Except that it is difficult to see how this would have any real impact on the strategic decisions of a group that pays no tax in France for reasons that are anything but obvious (read our analysis), which tends to cut jobs in France, and whose executives never miss an opportunity to emphasise that they are first and foremost a global group that has no need of the French government.

TotalEnergies does not seem particularly concerned about France’s energy soveriegnty either. After betting heavily on Russia (read our investigation), it has now positioned itself to become one of the main beneficiaries of the current US policy of massive exports of liquefied natural gas to Europe.

“While Caisse des Dépôts claims it wants to preserve our energy sovereignty, it is actually doing the opposite by supporting our dependence on fossil fuels, most of which are imported,” says Agathe Masson.

TotalEnergies was on trial for its climate responsibility a few weeks ago in Paris, following a complaint by NGOs and local authorities under the duty of care law. At this occasion, Le Monde reported that the public prosecutor planned – contrary to its usual practice in such procedures – to intervene in the trial in favor of the fossil fuel giant. TotalEnergies was already convicted last October for ‘misleading commercial practices’ in relation to its climate-remated commitments and communication.

Ironically, it was TotalEnergies’ controversial decision to move to a double listing in both Paris and New York from 1 January this year that forced the Caisse to disclose its links with the oil and gas giant, which are now subject to US transparency rules.

When initially contacted for this article, the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations replied that it “does not comment on the composition of its financial investment portfolios”.