Energy Intelligence has announced that Total SA is the winner of its 2016 Award for Leadership in New Energy.

The award recognises a company that is at the forefront of the energy transition from traditional fossil fuels to a lower-carbon energy system. Total has emerged as a leader among oil majors in adapting its business model to the climate challenge.

The company has made significant investments in alternative energy, placed an increasing emphasis on natural gas and, more broadly, integrated climate change into its strategy. The award will be presented to Total during the 37^th Annual Oil & Money conference in London in October.

Total recently created a new integrated gas, renewables and power segment as part of its bid to become the responsible energy major. In 2011, Total became a global leader in solar energy with its purchase of a majority stake in SunPower, the vertically integrated US solar company.

In 2016 Total acquired French battery-maker Saft, which should allow for in-house production of batteries for intermittent solar photovoltaic units, positioning its solar business to become even more integrated.

Earlier this month, Total bought Belgian gas distribution and renewable power provider Lampiris. The venture capital arm of Total has made a range of other investments in areas such as energy storage, biofuels, fuel cells, off-grid solar and wind.

Total, whose ambition is to remain among the top three profitable major oil and gas companies, is diversifying its hydrocarbon business and aims to produce over 60% natural gas by 2035.

The company also aims to have low-carbon business make up 20% of its portfolio within the same timeframe. As a producer and provider of electricity, Total envisions being an industrial player in the electricity market, which Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanné calls “the energy of the 21st century”. It has pledged to use the International Energy Agency’s 2°C scenario as its “handbook”.

Former winners of the award:

• 2015: Statoil
• 2014: Dong Energy
• 2013: Iberdrola
• 2012: Masdar