French Climate Lawsuit over Corporate Emissions Signals the Next Global Legal Fight

A recent decision by a French court requires a major European oil and gas company to report not only its own climate-warming emissions and those of its contractors but also those of its customers, who burn the oil and petroleum products the company sells.

The court's ruling against TotalEnergies, under a French law passed in 2017, expands a growing front in the global legal fight against climate change. That movement seeks court rulings to hold corporations liable for their emissions and the resulting warming of Earth’s atmosphere.

The court ruling gives TotalEnergies six months to report on the emissions from airlines, auto drivers and other customers using the company's energy products. Those emissions represent the vast majority of the company's total emissions. The company must also assess the risks of those emissions to the environment, human rights and health and report how it plans to reduce those risks.

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