the State escapes a heavy penalty of 1.1 billion euros

NGOs united as a collective denounced France’s non-compliance with its commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and had filed a request for a penalty payment against the State.

Justice did not rule in favor of the NGOs united within the collective L’Affaire du siècle. The latter demanded a financial penalty of 1.1 billion euros against the French state, which they accuse of insufficient action against global warming. In its judgment, Friday December 22, the Paris administrative court considers that the “reparation of ecological damage was late, but is now complete”considering that “the State, in accordance with the injunction made to it, had adopted or implemented measures likely to repair the damage in question“.

He followed the opinion of the public rapporteur who, during the hearing on December 8, declared the latest data concerning national CO2 emissions, namely a drop of 4.3% for the year 2023 and 2.7% in 2022, “allowed it to be considered that the damage had been fully repaired”. The French state was once again sued by several environmental defense associations (Our business to all, Greenpeace, Oxfam), denouncing France’s failure to comply with its commitments to reduce gas emissions. Greenhouse effect.

The State condemned for the first time in 2021

However, in February 2021, the Paris administrative court ruled in their favor in a first judgment, declaring the State responsible for breaches of its commitments and “ecological harm” ensuing. Then, in October of the same year, the courts ordered compensation for the “December 31, 2022, at the latest” the 15 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent emitted in excess of France’s objectives in 2015-2018.

The NGOs considered that this judgment had not been implemented and this time demanded financial penalties as part of a new procedure launched in June 2023. This penalty of 1.1 billion euros corresponded to nine semesters of delays already accumulated, according to calculations by NGOs, which rely on the Quinet method, named after a senior official who published a report a few years ago on “the value of climate action”.