Paris Court Orders TotalEnergies to Address Climate Risks from Customers’ Use of its Products

French energy giant TotalEnergies must identify and disclose measures to address climate risks resulting from Scope 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the use of its oil and gas products, according to a new ruling by the Paris Judicial Court.

The order gives the company six months to update its legally mandated vigilance plan to integrate the Scope 3 considerations and measures, which the court will review when the proceedings continue early next year.

In a partial victory for TotalEnergies, the court did not mandate specific emissions or oil and gas production reduction targets, or set requirements for the company to stop new fossil fuel-related exploration activity, as requested by the organizations behind the lawsuit.

The suit was initially filed in 2020 by a group of NGOs including Notre Affaire à Tous, Sherpa, France Nature Environnement, and the City of Paris, following France’s adoption of its “duty of vigilance” law in 2017, requiring large companies to have a vigilance plan to assess and prevent their operational impacts on the environment and human rights.

In the suit, the organizations argued that TotalEnergies’ vigilance plan was incomplete, by not sufficiently incorporating the climate-related risks and harms resulting from its activities, and particularly from the GHG emissions resulting from the combustion of fossil fuel products, which represent nearly 90% of the company’s GHG footprint.

The suit asked the court to set a series of requirements for TotalEnergies in its plan, including identifying its contribution to global GHG emissions and climate change risks, publishing measures to align its activities with a GHG emissions pathway – including Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions – compatible with limiting global warming to 1.5°C, and requiring the company to set interim targets to reduce the carbon intensity of its products in line with the 1.5°C pathway, to reduce natural gas and oil production by specific amounts by 2030 and 2050, as well as to immediately halt new hydrocarbon exploration.

In its judgement, the court ruled that climate-related risks to which the company contributes through its activities fall within the scope of the vigilance law, and that TotalEnergies must identify the adverse climate impacts caused by the release of GHG emissions resulting from its activities in its risk mapping.

The court added in its ruling that emissions from the company’s activities include Scope 3 emissions, in particular due to the “inherent link between oil and gas production and the combustion of the products by end users.”

The court ruled that TotalEnergies plan is incomplete without Scope 3 emissions, and ordered the company to complete the plan within 6 months, with Scope 3 added to its risk mapping, along with related measures corresponding to the risks.

In a statement welcoming the ruling, the coalition behind the suit said:

“This is an important decision during these days of unprecedented heatwave: fighting climate change is also fighting for a livable future. Multinationals – particularly oil and gas companies like TotalEnergies – must do their part to protect our loved ones, the regions we cherish, and those most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. We will continue the fight to ensure that this is the case.”

While the court found that the law requires companies to act to address the risks and harms linked to climate change, it also noted that the law “is not intended to make companies liable for climate change risks arising from all human activity since the Industrial Revolution.”

The judgment also found that the law does not authorize the court to set specific targets or measures on behalf of the company, but instead authorizes judicial review of the incorporation of appropriate measures corresponding to identified risks, and their implementation, by the company.

In a statement released following the judgement, TotalEnergies said that it “takes note of the Court’s request to also include customers’ emissions (Scope 3) in its vigilance plan and to update it accordingly,” and said that it will supplement its plan, drawing in particular on its CSRD sustainability report, which includes actions by the company to help customers reduce emissions, such as through the development of electricity and biofuels production.

The company added:

“TotalEnergies notes with satisfaction that, in its decision issued today, the Paris Judicial Court did not uphold the claims brought by the associations and the City of Paris, which sought to prohibit TotalEnergies from developing or undertaking new oil and gas projects or to require it to reduce its oil and gas production.”