Paris Court Poised to Deliver Landmark Ruling in Climate Change Case Amid Extreme Heat
The court gave TotalEnergies six months to revise its risk assessment after finding the company must address emissions from customers.
- On Thursday, the Paris Judicial Court will rule on whether energy giant TotalEnergies breached its legal duty to address environmental risks in a landmark climate case brought by NGOs and the city of Paris.
- Brought by the city of Paris and NGOs, the lawsuit argues TotalEnergies violates a 2017 law requiring firms to prevent environmental risks, demanding production cuts of 37 percent for oil and 25 percent for gas by 2030.
- TotalEnergies argues the law excludes customer activity and calls requested measures ineffective; Anne Stevignon, a lawyer for NGO Notre Affaire a Tous, told AFP such arguments resemble a "drug dealer defence."
- This case reflects a growing wave of global climate litigation; in late 2024, a Dutch appeals court overturned a ruling ordering Shell to deepen emissions cuts.
- Human-Caused climate change is tied to increasingly extreme weather; the World Health Organization reported more than 200,000 people across Europe died from heat-related causes over the last four years.
43 Articles
43 Articles
The French energy giant TotalEnergies must amend its due diligence plan within six months. A court in Paris ruled this on Thursday...
Court orders TotalEnergies to account for clients' emissions
A French court on Thursday ordered TotalEnergies to account for its clients' emissions and outline measures to address them, in a ruling that NGOs hailed as a victory in the major climate case.The court, however, stopped short of imposing specific measures demanded by the plaintiffs against the French energy giant, including a halt in new...
The court in Paris ordered the oil group to complete its "vigilance plan" by integrating the risks arising from its customers' greenhouse gas emissions.
Court rules oil and gas giant TotalEnergies must account for its clients' CO₂ emissions
Since 2020, a coalition of advocacy groups and the Paris city authority have taken TotalEnergies to court to force it to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. This latest ruling now requires the oil and gas major to include its clients' emissions in its own due diligence plan, which marks a significant step forward.
A collective of associations, supported by the City of Paris, accused the group of having failed to fulfil its obligations under a 2017 law on "duty of vigilance".
In a company's first major climate trial in France, the Paris court gives six months to the petro-gas giant to update its "risk mapping".
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