French energy company GDF Suez said Friday it launched a major rebranding campaign, starting with a name change it says is emblematic of the low-carbon era.

"The energy transition is more than ever a reality for which we have both great ambitions and a great responsibility," Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gerard Mestrallet said in a statement. "To meet the new challenges of this reality and to accelerate our development, we have decided to give the Group a new name: ENGIE."

The company last year set a goal of cutting emissions of carbon dioxide, a potent greenhouse gas, by 10 percent by 2020, increasing its renewable energy capacity by 50 percent from 2009 to 2015 and increasing energy efficiency by 40 percent by 2018.

Carbon dioxide levels are 142 percent higher than a 1750 benchmark, a year World Meteorological Organization set as the start of the industrial era.

ENGIE said the name change is a sign of the "profound" transformation underway in the global energy sector. The transition, it said, is characterized by decarbanization and development of renewable energy resources.

Outside of Europe, the company in February became a preferred bidder for the 100 megatwatt Kathu Solar Park in South Africa, a country that set a target of adding about 1.6 MW of new renewable energy to its grid each year.

The rebranding campaign includes a 10-week public relations blitz focused largely on the French and Belgian markets, the company's two main countries of operation.