A hearing takes place on Wednesday at the Paris court. A new stage in this legal action carried out since January 2020 by 16 local authorities and six associations against the oil group. And that could last for several more years.
On one side, there are the lawyers of TotalEnergies. On the other, those of a group of NGOs and local authorities. Each will present, confront and plead their arguments, Wednesday, May 31, before a pretrial judge, at the Paris court. This is a new step in the proceedings brought in January 2020 against the oil company for climate inaction. “The hearing will not focus on the substance, but on the form”, warns François de Cambiaire, one of the lawyers of the collective. To better understand the issues, franceinfo looks back on the chronology of this case, details its legal intricacies and its specificities.
A procedure started more than three years ago
The legal battle began on January 28, 2020, when a collective, made up of 14 local authorities, including Grenoble, and five associations, sued TotalEnergies before the Nanterre court (Hauts-de-Seine). “We ask Total, as part of its duty of vigilance, to take measures to reduce its carbon footprint”explained at the time, on franceinfo, Sébastien Mabile, second lawyer for the collective.
Since the entry into force of the law of March 27, 2017 on the duty of vigilance, certain multinationals have the obligation to “preventing serious violations of human rights, the health and safety of people and the environment”, both in France and with their foreign subcontractors and suppliers. These measures must be published in a vigilance plan, and implemented effectively. In “case of breach”, and after a “formal notice”, justice can be seized. This is what the collective did.
“The oil company Total is responsible on its own for around 1% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. This means that it has a carbon footprint which is equivalent to that of the 67 million French people combined”, develops Sébastien Mabile, who asks TotalEnergies “to take strong measures”, “in order to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, to which we must all contribute in order to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees”.
An observation with which the multinational does not agree. “To meet its ambition of carbon neutrality in 2050, TotalEnergies is deploying specific action plans”of which the reduction, “by 2030”of the “direct emissions from its operated industrial facilities by more than 40%”, argues today the oil group with franceinfo.
A transfer to the Paris court in March 2022
Since the start of this case, TotalEnergies has contested “the way of litigation”, who is not, in his eyes, “appropriate” to answer to “the climate issue”. Class counsel raise a “exception of incompetence” Court of Nanterre and consider that the dispute must be tried before a commercial court, in particular because the duty of vigilance is enshrined in the Commercial Code.
But this is not the opinion of the Nanterre court, which on February 11, 2021 rejected TotalEnergies’ request and thus declared itself competent to judge the case. Nine months later, this decision was confirmed by the Versailles Court of Appeal. Then, in a judgment of December 15, 2021, the Court of Cassation recognized the possible jurisdiction of the courts in all legal actions brought on the duty of vigilance. Before Parliament decided, a few days later, to entrust them entirely to the Paris court, where the file landed in March 2022.
A lawsuit that New York and Paris joined in the fall
While the case continues its legal course, the coalition of associations and local authorities which took TotalEnergies to court is growing. To date, 16 local authorities and six associations are involved in the legal action against TotalEnergies. During a hearing on September 21, 2022, the cities of Paris and New York formalized their rallying, followed by Amnesty International and Poitiers.
“To get out of this and keep the increase in the planet’s temperature below 2°C, the Paris agreement must absolutely be respected. However, some people continue to think of their financial interests before the collective interest and the protection of life on Earth”explains the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, who sees the opportunity “to force a key energy player to respect the Paris agreement”.
A hearing “on form”, at the heart of a long legal battle
However, in this case, we are still far from the debates on the merits. In March 2022, when the file was transferred to the Paris court, a pretrial judge was appointed, as is the case when civil proceedings are complex. He is in charge of ensure the fair conduct of the civil trial. It is in front of him that the hearing will take place on Wednesday.
Each party will plead its conclusions on the procedural objections and pleas of inadmissibility raised by TotalEnergies. “The challenge is threefold: we will defend the effectiveness of the duty of vigilance, on which we are awaiting a firm decision; we will also plead the admissibility of local authorities so that this type of litigation can prosper; and we will also ask for provisional precautionary measures”, details the lawyer François de Cambiaire.
On this last point, the lawyer hopes to oblige TotalEnergies “to suspend all its new fossil fuel development projects”, pending review of the merits of the case. Because François de Cambiaire expects a long procedure and does not envisage a trial before 2024 or 2025, or even later.
Regarding the decision of the pre-trial judge, it will not be rendered immediately, but will be deliberated. “It will probably be made in the fall. Whatever it is, there will surely be an appeal of this decision”, explains the lawyer, who expects TotalEnergies to continue to have “a procedural attitude”. According to him, the oil company “play the watch”. To which the group responds: “Since the start of the proceedings, TotalEnergies has scrupulously respected the timetable set by the court and the pretrial judge.”