TotalEnergies Ordered to Assess Emissions Amidst Europe’s Sweltering Heat
A Paris court has mandated that TotalEnergies, a major energy company, evaluate the greenhouse gas emissions generated by its oil and gas products. The company has been given six months to submit a report detailing the environmental risks associated with its consumer activities.
This ruling comes at a time when France is gripped by an unprecedented heat wave. Climate organizations had sought a more stringent reduction in TotalEnergies’ oil and gas output, which the court did not grant.
The court plans a subsequent hearing in January to review the company’s compliance with a 2017 law demanding corporate responsibility for human rights and environmental risks. This marks the first instance of the law being utilized in the context of climate change.
While the law does not hold companies accountable for all climate change impacts since the Industrial Revolution, the court emphasized that it requires them to act “according to their own situation.”
Initiated in 2020, the lawsuit by environmental groups such as Notre Affaire à Tous, Sherpa, ZEA, France Nature Environnement, and the city of Paris, sought to highlight the climate implications of TotalEnergies’ operations.
The groups expressed satisfaction with the court’s acknowledgment that climate change is encompassed within the 2017 duty of vigilance law. They stated, “This decision marks a significant step forward, confirming that the duty of vigilance fully applies to climate risks generated by multinational corporations.”
The lawsuit pushed for a 37% reduction in oil production and a 25% decrease in gas output by 2030, along with a cessation of new fossil fuel projects. Sébastien Duyck, from the Center for International Environmental Law, noted that incorporating climate change into the duty of vigilance law could influence similar legal frameworks across Europe, describing it as “a key legal path to corporate accountability.”
This decision coincides with a heat wave affecting much of Europe, including the UK and Spain, where weather services have issued red alerts. The extreme heat has prompted adjustments to visiting hours at landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre Museum, and disrupted schools and transportation.
Human-driven climate change is linked to more frequent extreme weather events. The U.N. climate agency anticipates more record-breaking heat over the next five years, while Europe’s temperatures have been rising at twice the global rate since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
The World Health Organization’s Europe office reported that over 200,000 heat-related deaths have occurred across the continent in the past four years, most of which were preventable.
This judicial decision aligns with a series of recent climate change-related rulings. The International Court of Justice previously indicated countries could violate international law by failing to combat climate change. In 2024, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that countries must enhance protections against climate change’s impacts. Furthermore, in 2019, the Netherlands’ Supreme Court recognized climate protection as a human right, obligating government action.
