A French court on Thursday ruled that the oil major TotalEnergies must take responsibility for the full scope of greenhouse gas emissions across its supply chain—including emissions from customers’ use of its products.
The company’s failure to account for these indirect, “Scope 3” emissions that constitute the vast majority of its contribution to dangerous warming is a violation of its obligation under France’s landmark duty of vigilance law, the court found.
The decision marked the first time that a French multinational corporation has been held liable under the 2017 law for failing to meet its obligations regarding climate-related risk. Climate advocates celebrated the ruling.
“This decision is really important because it paves the way for climate accountability of multinational companies in France,” Théa Bounfour, senior environmental legal officer at Sherpa, one of the French organizations that brought the lawsuit against TotalEnergies, said during a Thursday press conference. “It also sends a very, very clear message that fossil fuel companies are responsible for all of their emissions, including those generated by customers using their products.”
The Paris Judicial Court ordered TotalEnergies to revise its vigilance plan within the next six months to incorporate the impacts on human rights and the environment from the company’s Scope 3 emissions, which account for over 90 percent of its total attributable carbon emissions. Corporate vigilance plans are required under French law, whereby companies must identify risks to human rights and the environment resulting from their operations and outline measures they will take to mitigate these harms.
