The '20 km of Brussels' race is only 17 days away, but the event's historic partnership with major oil company TotalEnergies is once again under scrutiny, with criticism coming from city officials and environmental organisations alike.
TotalEnergies, the world's fifth most profitable oil company, has donated €50,000 to the event every year since 2004. This year, it is one of the six main partners to have its logo on both banners and the official runners' race bibs. Other main sponsors include Delhaize, KBC Brussels and water company SPA.
Environmental organisations are denouncing the TotalEnergies partnership as an attempt at 'greenwashing' from the fossil fuel company, whose operations are directly responsible for CO2 emissions. They also criticise the company in light of the revelation that Total personnel knew of the harmful effects of global warming since the early 1970s and still actively fuelled climate denialism for two decades afterwards.
Cutting Total off
The Brussels 20km run is a widely popular charity fundraising event, gathering over 30,000 participants each year. Greenpeace Belgium is calling for each charity to raise awareness among their runners about the problematic nature of the oil company sponsorship and encouraging runners to wear red as a mark of protest and to cut off the Total logo from their race bibs, Le Soir reports.
"We believe that the company should not be given a space in cultural and sporting events until it starts a real transition," Greenpeace spokesperson Carin Thibaut told Le Soir. "We are not demanding an abrupt end to Total's sponsorship: we are asking organisers to terminate the contract within the next two to three years."
Meanwhile the race organisers, the non-profit Initiative Syndicate of Brussels Promotion (SIBP), said that they have looked for other sponsors but to no avail, maintaining that Total will have "almost no visibility" during the event.
City officials in Brussels have also expressed their opposition to the race's association with the oil company. "We have been supporting the organisers to ensure more sustainability and to allow the 20 km to lead by example for other events," Climate and Sports Councillor Benoît Hellings told Le Soir.
"The fact that TotalEnergies is among the main partners creates a communication gap. We do not want these efforts for sustainability, organised by public authorities, to benefit a group that makes its profits from fossil fuels," the Councillor said, offering his support to find a replacement sponsor.
The City of Brussels is a partner of the event but is not an organiser, usually just providing security services, cleaning and setting up fences. This year, City authorities will also provide 240,000 reusable cups at the event to avoid the single-use plastic waste.
Councillor Hellings, who is part of the French-speaking Green Party Ecolo, also mentioned that the Total sponsorship poses a security risk, as activists may choose to protest during the event as they did last year.
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The Brussels race is one of many sponsorships that TotalEnergies maintains in Belgium. It also sponsors the 10 Mile run in Antwerp, the classical music Queen Elisabeth Competition and the Flagey Cultural Centre in Ixelles.
The company sponsored major restoration works at the Art and History Museum in Brussels and the Rubens House in Antwerp, and it is listed as one of the main partners of the Royal Museums of Art and History (RMAH).
