Paris Court to Rule on TotalEnergies Climate Lawsuit

A Paris court is scheduled to rule Thursday on whether TotalEnergies must reduce its oil and gas production. The case was brought by several NGOs and the city of Paris under a 2017 French law that requires companies to address human rights and environmental risks.

The plaintiffs argue that TotalEnergies ranks among the largest historical emitters of greenhouse gases. They are asking the court to order a 37 percent cut in oil production and a 25 percent cut in gas production by 2030, along with a halt to all new fossil fuel projects.

The ruling comes one day after France recorded its highest temperatures on record. Similar heat alerts were issued in the United Kingdom and Spain, where authorities restricted access to sites including the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre and adjusted school and transit schedules.

The 2017 law had not previously been applied to climate change claims. Proceedings began in 2020. United Nations climate projections indicate the next five years are likely to set additional heat records. Europe has warmed twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service.

The World Health Organization's Europe office reported this month that more than 200,000 people across Europe died from heat-related causes over the last four years, with most deaths considered preventable.