Frey Lindsay A worker tends to herbs growing in the nursery of the Graines de Soleil farming complex in Châteauneuf-les-Martigues nonprofit urban farms and volunteer grocery stores help poorer families cope with the cost-of-living crisis MARSEILLE - On a sunny winter's morning, Etienne Griffaton walked around the Graines De Soleil urban farming project people have to do a lot of different things," said Griffaton "But I think people are happy to have their hands in the soil." Graines De Soleil is part of a network of non-profit organisations fighting food poverty around France's second city, Marseille, where around 26% of the population live below the poverty line compared to the French average of around 14% Across Graines de Soleil's three hectares (7 acres) 18 employees and around 30 'apprentices' grow fresh produce which is then sent to grocery co-operatives a 'social grocery' in the industrial town of Gardanne The apprentices include recently arrived immigrants and prisoners on day release there is a mix-up with a delivery to Colibri and Caroline Plas project director with the NGO La Cité de l'agriculture "I've actually never been the delivery guy before," said Plas The COVID-19 outbreak made things worse: as the informal economy was hit by lockdowns and energy prices rose, food aid systems were overwhelmed Project manager Etienne Griffaton stands in front of vegetables growing at the Graines de Soleil farming complex in Châteauneuf-les-Martigues an umbrella organisation set up to fight food insecurity collectives like Territoires à Vivres have developed new ways to provide food while addressing the stigma associated with food banks and what critics describe as a paternalistic attitude towards aid recipients "With COVID we noticed that the groups working in this field adapted their behaviour .. in order to provide people with the food they needed," said Aïcha Sif a city councillor and deputy mayor in charge of urban agriculture and food sustainability Another saw the development of social groceries like Colibri Colibri stocks its shelves from urban farms like Graines de Soleil and buys subsidised food from supermarket chains The staff are all volunteers and each item has two prices typically people living just above the poverty line while others pay a full or 'solidarity' price retirees as well as immigrants without secure status They are also "often poor workers who are right on the line despite a small salary with no help from the state," said volunteer Pascale Michel Labels show the ‘beneficiary’ and ‘solidarity’ prices for items at the Colibri social grocery store in Gardanne Mothers with their children line up to collect food boxes at the Racines social grocery store in Marseille’s 3rd district Colibri consults its members on what they want to see on the shelves "If people can choose what they want to eat "They can buy what they want and feel they're not begging." Emmy Barbier is a single mother with a part-time job Rising food and energy prices mean she struggles to pay her bills in a fairly old home that isn't well insulated It's the same problem every year," she said He lives off a small French pension while awaiting his Italian one which has been held up by bureaucratic issues "The food here is good quality and it's not expensive for me," said Zammataro "The other associations that give out food he will keep coming to Colibri to pay the full price "There are a lot of people who need help like this Retired chef Giuseppe Zammataro stands in front of fresh produce at the Colibri social grocery store in Gardanne Emmy Barbier shows her weekly shopping at the Colibri social grocery store in Gardanne members of the Racines social grocery can buy limited quantities of food at reduced prices people living in or near absolute poverty can collect pre-prepared food boxes paid for by the non-profit Groupe SOS Solidarités Many immigrant families from the Maghreb and other parts of Africa shop here who fled Algeria after becoming pregnant while she was unmarried I have a three-month-old baby to take care of and so I can't work (Racines) is very important for us," she said a dietician who works with the local government said nutrition was also a problem in Marseille with obesity a common issue among poor and immigrant families "There's not enough vegetables and fresh food and the infrastructure is not well-equipped for sport and other activities," said Boyer so mothers don't want to go out with their children." Inequality in Marseille was exacerbated by the pandemic-era collapse of the informal economy which deprived poor and immigrant families of income Councillor Sif is working to increase the land available to urban farming projects and relocalise food production "Food scarcity and precarity are a door to other vulnerabilities within these communities," said Sif we discover afterwards that they are also in need of many other things - energy who asked to be identified only by her first name has been out of work for two years after an accident-related disability (Reporting by Frey Lindsay; Editing by Jon Hemming.) Context is powered by the Thomson Reuters Foundation Newsroom Our Standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles These links open on reuters.com By providing your email, you agree to our Privacy Policy What does a Donald Trump presidency mean for LGBTQ+ rights? Deported: The Iraq War veterans denied the right to live in the US No trees, no birds, no shade: A sit-in for Dhaka's last parks Inside Trump's $6mn deportee deal with El Salvador mega-prison This Indigenous fund in Brazil wants to take over nature finance Britain's foreign aid: Where does the money go? Context is a media platform created by the Thomson Reuters Foundation. We provide news and analysis that contextualises how critical issues and events affect ordinary people, society and the environment. Find out more. The Workforce Disclosure Initiative is an investor-backed project to improve the quantity & quality of corporate workforce data via an annual survey & engagement process Trust Conference is the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s flagship annual event taking place in the heart of London each year TrustLaw is the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s global pro bono service facilitating free legal assistance to NGOs and social enterprises around the world The Local Europe ABVästmannagatan 43113 25 StockholmSweden survivors and relatives of victims of the attack near a major gas field in northern Mozambique launched legal action against the oil and gas giant accusing it of failing to protect its subcontractors Islamic State-linked militants killed dozens of people when they attacked the port town of Palma in March 2021 sending thousands of people fleeing into the surrounding forest The attack in Cabo Delgado province lasted several days The investigation into involuntary manslaughter and failure to assist persons in danger was launched on Friday TotalEnergies halted its $20 billion LNG project after the attack but is hoping to restart it There was no immediate reaction from TotalEnergies In a statement released at the time the complaint was filed in 2023 the company had "strongly rejected these accusations." Seven British and South African complainants - three survivors and four relatives of victims - accuse TotalEnergies of failing to take steps to ensure the safety of subcontractors before the assault The criminal complaint filed in 2023 accuses TotalEnergies which was developing a liquefied natural gas project at Afungi near Palma of involuntary manslaughter and failure to assist persons in danger Mozambique's government said around 30 people were killed but Alex Perry an independent journalist who carried out a five-month investigation into the massacre The Al-Shabab group (no link to the Somali group of the same name) which carried out the attack had been active in Cabo Delgado province since 2017 Total is also accused of refusing to provide fuel to a South African security company that organised helicopter rescues from a besieged hotel during the attack a Canadian whose husband Adrian Nel was killed in the siege told reporters in 2023 how he held out under siege for two days at Amarula Lodge with 150 others "waiting for a rescue by Total or the Mozambican security forces that never came." She said when they realised that "they had been abandoned" they tried to break out in a convoy of cars but came under fire from the gunmen TotalEnergies has said that "all the staff of Mozambique LNG and its contractors and subcontractors had been evacuated" The company also insisted it had supplied fuel for the rescue operation The attack triggered the deployment of forces from Rwanda and southern African countries which have since helped Mozambique retake control of much of Cabo Delgado TotalEnergies is hoping to restart the long-delayed project and this week the US Export-Import Bank approved a $4.7 billion loan for the company TotalEnergies has a 26.5 percent stake in the project which aims to export gas mainly to clients in Asia Several NGOs issued a joint statement on Friday calling other European and Asian financiers "to refuse to follow this toxic and irresponsible lead and to oppose the restart of the project a climate bomb associaach ted with numerous allegations of human rights violations." Please log in here to leave a comment. ProductionAir Liquide announces new project to supply green hydrogen to TotalEnergies biorefinery in southern FranceThe H2 will be used to produce biodiesel and sustainable aviation fuel alongside renewable hydrogen being supplied separately by Engie Location: FrancePartners: TotalEnergiesMain activity: renewable diesel productionOther activities: AdBlue® production planned production of low-carbon hydrogenCommissioning: 2019 Built in Châteauneuf-les-Martigues near Marseille the La Mède complex has been undergoing a transformation since 2015 The site is geared towards the energies of the future which are set to drive growth for TotalEnergies and the local region La Mède's conversion reflects our commitment to play an active role in developing renewable energies TotalEnergies has invested €337 million to convert La Mède into a facility focused on the new energies The key ambition behind the project involves converting the refinery into a biorefinery The La Mède complex also features an AdBlue® production unit The site is also home to TotalEnergies' second OLEUM training center and the Masshylia project in partnership with ENGIE to design one of the largest low-carbon hydrogen production facilities in France the La Mède biorefinery has a production capacity of 500,000 metric tons of renewable diesel per year and can process a wide variety of certified sustainable feedstocks used cooking oils and animal fats from the circular economy palm oil has been excluded from the raw materials processed at La Mède A new investment of €70 million was announced in June 2023 with the aim of ramping up the biorefinery's transformation from 2024 This package will help upgrade the site's facilities to process up to 100% used cooking oil and animal fats Diverse biosourced feedstocks with an increasing share of waste and residues Certified vegetable oil (certified rapeseed oil palm oil)Maximum authorization (the environmental operating authorization dated May 16 2018 authorizes TERF to process 450,000 tonnes of crude vegetable oils of all kinds per year): 450,000 tonnes Of which certified palm oilMaximum commitment: 300,000 tonnes Certified waste & residuesMaximum authorization the environmental authorization to operate dated May 16 2018 authorizes TERF to process annually a minimum of 25% of resources from waste or residues (fatty acid distillates used edible oils or category 3 animal fats): 25% Enlarge image 100% of the oils purchased by TotalEnergies for La Mède meet the sustainability criteria set by the European Union. Compliance with the sustainability criteria for oils purchased for the La Mède biorefinery is established by an International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC) sustainability certificate based on the mass balance system required by the European Union(1) This certification scheme confirms that every metric ton of oil purchased and processed by TotalEnergies corresponds to one metric ton of oil produced in compliance with the European Union's sustainability criteria This certificate is awarded on the condition of compliance with the criteria of sustainability and traceability of oils throughout the chain AdBlue® is an additive used to reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from diesel engines (trucks and passenger vehicles) The AdBlue® production unit at La Mède produces 50,000 metric tons per year A new logistics and storage hub started operations in April 2017 Located in the heart of the Marseille Fos Port the hub boasts a storage capacity of 1.3 million cubic meters and is capable of storing fuels (gasoline and diesel) La Mède hosts TotalEnergies' second OLEUM training center Modeled after the center of the same name at our Flanders facility near Dunkirk this training center for oil and petrochemical industries is one of the world's few such facilities based in a real industrial complex The center is able to train over 2,000 people a year The La Mède OLEUM international training center also provides a demonstration platform to trial digital projects under real operating conditions in TotalEnergies' industrial environment The La Mède solar power plant came on stream in 2017 It is equipped with high-performance cells produced by the Company's affiliate SunPower and has a production capacity of 8 megawatts (MW) enough to meet the electricity needs of a city of 13,000 people are working together at La Mède to develop a process for recovering biorefinery effluent and clay through anaerobic digestion TotalEnergies and ENGIE signed a cooperation agreement to design build and operate the Masshylia green hydrogen production project at La Mède a new renewable hydrogen production project was launched with in partnership with Air Liquide in line with TotalEnergies' ambition to decarbonize the hydrogen consumed by its European refineries by 2030 Air Liquide will build and operate a renewable hydrogen production unit on the La Mède platform With a capacity of 25,000 tonnes of hydrogen per year this unit will recycle co-products from the biorefinery The hydrogen will then be used by the biorefinery to produce biodiesel and Sustainable Air Fuels (SAF) these projects will reduce the La Mède biorefinery's CO2 emissions by 130,000 tons a year (1) see Article 18(1) of Directive 2009/28/EC of April 23 2009 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (2) The La Mède biorefinery produces nearly 10,000 metric tons of waste every year This waste is mainly filtration clay and effluent containing a mixture of up to 20% vegetable oils and animal fats Discover our major biomass/biogas projects TotalEnergies SE has approved a plan to further expand processing of circular renewable feedstocks at its La Mède biorefinery at Bouches-du-Rhône in Châteauneuf-les-Martigues in the country’s southern Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region During the biorefinery’s first major scheduled shutdown in 2024 the operator will undertake a €70-million project to modernize installations to enable increased processing of waste materials obtained from the circular economy including used cooking oils (UCO) and animal fats TotalEnergies said the proposed investment project will equip La Mède’s biorefinery to produce renewable fuels using up to 100% waste materials sourced from the circular economy in support of its corporate goal to reduce the carbon footprint of global operations in line with its commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 The June 28 investment decision comes as part of the company’s broader objective to ensure waste from the circular economy accounts for 75% of the feedstock it uses to produce biofuels as well as TotalEnergies’ aim of accelerating production of renewable aviation fuels to establish itself as a leading market supplier (see below) “Resolutely focused on low-carbon energies that are growth drivers for TotalEnergies and for the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region [the] La Mède [platform] is an example of successful industrial reconversion,” said Bernard Pinatel managing director of TotalEnergies’ Refining-Chemicals division Pinatel said the proposed new project continues the company’s ongoing transformation of the La Mède site that—beginning in 2015—involved a €340-million conversion of the site’s former 153,000-b/d conventional refinery into France’s first biorefinery, which the operator commissioned in 2019 (OGJ Online, Sept. 28, 2020). Operable as of July 2019, the La Mède biorefinery produces 500,000-tonne/year (tpy) of renewable diesel from a variety of renewable feedstocks, including rapeseed and other vegetable oils, as well as waste feedstocks such as UCOs and animal fats procured from the circular economy, according to TotalEnergies’ website. After ceasing processing of palm oil entirely in early 2023, TotalEnergies’ said the La Mède biorefinery’s updated 650,000-tpy feedstock supply plan from Jan. 1, 2023, would include a maximum of 450,000 tpy of vegetable oils of all kinds (excluding palm oil), with a minimum 25% of feedstock resources to come from waste and residues (excluding palm fatty acid distillate, or PFAD). Alongside the biorefinery, TotalEnergies’ site description confirms the La Mède platform hosts: Announcement of the planned La Mède investment follows TotalEnergies confirmation in mid-June that it is “investing massively” in projects that will expand the operator’s production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in response to increased demand from aviation customers. From 2028, TotalEnergies will be able to produce 500,000 tpy of SAF, enough to cover the gradual increase in the European SAF blending mandate set at 6% for 2030, the operator said on June 19. To this end, TotalEnergies confirmed it has launched multiple SAF production projects, including: By 2030, TotalEnergies said it plans to reach a combined SAF production capacity of 1.5 million tpy from its operations in Europe, the US, Japan, and South Korea, which would account for 10% of the global SAF market supply by that date. Robert Brelsford joined Oil & Gas Journal in October 2013 as downstream technology editor after 8 years as a crude oil price and news reporter on spot crude transactions at the US Gulf Coast, West Coast, Canadian, and Latin American markets. He holds a BA (2000) in English from Rice University and an MS (2003) in education and social policy from Northwestern University. HydrogenAir Liquide announces new project to supply green hydrogen to TotalEnergiesHydrogen will be used to produce biodiesel and sustainable aviation fuel 2021 – Total and Engie have signed a cooperation agreement to design France's largest renewable hydrogen production site at Châteauneuf-les-Martigues in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur South region Located at the heart of Total's La Mède biorefinery and powered by solar farms with a total capacity of more than 100 MW the 40 MW electrolyser will produce 5 tonnes of green hydrogen per day to meet the needs of the biofuel production process at Total's La Mède biorefinery avoiding 15,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year An innovative management solution for the production and storage of hydrogen will be implemented to manage the intermittent production of solar electricity and the biorefinery's need for continuous hydrogen supply The project thus integrates the implementation of 5 innovations that prefigure the industry's decarbonation solutions new renewable farms may be developed by the partners for the electrolyser which has the capacity to produce up to 15 tonnes of green hydrogen per day The Masshylia project has been labelled as innovative and of great interest to the region by several regional institutions (Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur South Region It benefits from the support of local actors for its ability to reduce CO2 emissions and demonstrate the economic advantages of renewable hydrogen and its integration into the local ecosystem and at the European level The two partners aim to begin construction of the facilities in 2022 following the completion of the advanced engineering study subject to the necessary financial support and public authorisations the project has already applied for subsidies from the French (AMI) and European authorities (IPCEI " Innovation and sustainability are at the heart of this joint project As demonstrated by our commitment to the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance we believe in the future of renewable hydrogen and we are working with our partner Engie to make it happen This renewable hydrogen production facility combined with our expertise in solar energy is a further step in our commitment to get to net zero by 2050” says Philippe Sauquet “The association of two leading French energy companies will make it possible to develop the hydrogen sector and become its leaders thanks to this joint industrial and internationally reproducible project” "The Masshylia project demonstrates the capacity of Engie to meet the challenges of the energy transition by developing innovative carbon neutral solutions by its scale and its very ambitious integrated approach embodies Engie’s renewable hydrogen development strategy to reduce our clients CO2 footprint It also paves the way for a multi-usage renewable hydrogen hub in the near future strongly rooted in the region and with an international outreach." says Gwenaëlle Avice-Huet Engie’s EVP in charge of renewable energies Total is looking into the production of clean hydrogen-blue or green- on a gas basis with carbon capture and storage or based on intermittent renewable electricity the Group has been working on the development of concrete use cases for the decarbonization of industrial processes as well as in mobility and gas Total is notably involved as industrial user and as a player in its development as a fuel especially in Germany with H2 Mobility Total is also an active member of several Hydrogen-dedicated initiatives and professional associations: the Hydrogen Council the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance and France Hydrogène A Business Unit dedicated to Clean Hydrogen has been created in June 2020 Total is a broad energy company that produces and markets fuels Our 100,000 employees are committed to better energy that is more affordable cleaner and accessible to as many people as possible our ambition is to become the responsible energy major Engie believes that hydrogen will play a key role in the energy transition The Group is a front runner in the development of an industrial-scale hydrogen economy with more than 30 projects underway in 10 countries Engie is present along the entire hydrogen value chain renewable hydrogen production to developing various end uses and operating renewable hydrogen-based solutions for industries and regions around the world Engie is an active member of several Hydrogen-dedicated initiatives and professional associations: the Hydrogen Council Engie created a dedicated business unit for renewable hydrogen development With more than 200 hydrogen experts within the Group Engie is a leader in decarbonizing industrial processes and heavy-duty mobility Our group is a global reference in low-carbon energy and services Our purpose (“raison d’être”) is to act to accelerate the transition towards a carbon-neutral world through reduced energy consumption and more environmentally-friendly solutions reconciling economic performance with a positive impact on people and the planet services) to offer competitive solutions to our customers we are a community of Imaginative Builders committed every day to more harmonious progress The Group is listed on the Paris and Brussels stock exchanges (ENGI) and is represented in the main financial indices (CAC 40 MSCI Europe) and non-financial indices (DJSI World DJSI Europe and Euronext Vigeo Eiris - World 120 from which no legal consequences may be drawn The entities in which TOTAL SE directly or indirectly owns investments are separate legal entities TOTAL SE has no liability for their acts or omissions “Total Group” and Group are sometimes used for convenience “us” and “our” may also be used to refer to subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them This document may contain forward-looking information and statements that are based on a number of economic data and assumptions made in a given economic They may prove to be inaccurate in the future and are subject to a number of risk factors Neither TOTAL SE nor any of its subsidiaries assumes any obligation to update publicly any forward-looking information or statement objectives or trends contained in this document whether as a result of new information