TotalEnergies in high-stakes French trial over climate change

TotalEnergies faces cutting back oil and gas production if NGOs prevail in a trial that began Thursday over accusations the French energy giant failed to properly consider environmental risks.

The case, brought by several NGOs and the city of Paris, is based upon a 2017 law that imposed a "duty of vigilance" on large companies.

The law seeks to counter companies offloading responsibility onto subcontractors by requiring them to identify and prevent any risks toward human rights as well as the environment throughout their production chain, including overseas.

TotalEnergies and the plaintiffs are at odds over the reach of the definition of the environment -- whether it means risks on a local scale such as a polluted river or more broadly global warming.

The energy firm's lawyers argued global warming is beyond the scope of the law.

But a lawyer representing four NGOs including nonprofit Sherpa told the court that "selling hydrocarbons to be burned creates an environmental risk".

"Is there really no link between global warming and the preservation of biodiversity or the prevention of air pollution?" the lawyer stated.

The NGOs also accuse TotalEnergies of not including within its vigilance requirements the "indirect emissions" produced by its end customers burning its products, which amount to 342 million tonnes of CO2 per year.

The plaintiffs are demanding TotalEnergies stop developing new hydrocarbon projects as well as make a 37 percent reduction in oil production and a 25 percent reduction in gas production by 2030.

"We will ask you to make a courageous, unprecedented decision, but one based on the law," one of the lawyers for the NGOs said.

TotalEnergies claimed it was the victim of "demonisation" by the plaintiffs.

"If the company, which accounts for less than two percent of global production, were to shut down, global warming would still continue," one of TotalEnergies's lawyers said during the hearing.

The trial is due to continue Friday, but a ruling is not expected for several months.

Environmental groups have high hopes for the ruling.

It "could have systemic implications" for "other sectors, such as transport," said Sherpa's Thea Bounfour.

Lawsuits against major polluting companies have been on the rise as the consequences of climate change become more apparent.

At the end of 2024, Dutch courts rejected on appeal a case brought by climate advocacy groups who argued that oil giant Shell was not doing enough to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, overturning a landmark ruling handed down three years earlier.

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