The siege in the courts against oil companies is tightening and now a group of environmental NGOs is trying to give a new twist to climate litigation in France. This Tuesday they filed a criminal complaint against the directors and main shareholders of the French oil company TotalEnergies. Behind the complaint are three NGOs – the French BLOOM and Santé Planétaire and the Mexican Nuestro Futuro – and eight citizens from Australia, Zimbabwe, France, Belgium, the Philippines, Greece and Pakistan who consider themselves victims of extreme phenomena linked to climate change. They argue that behind the climate crisis are companies like TotalEnergies, which have been profiting for decades from fossil fuels that, when burned, emit greenhouse gases that overheat the planet.
The complaint has been filed in the Paris Criminal Court and the complainants accuse this multinational, whose headquarters are in France although it extracts hydrocarbons from 53 different countries, of several crimes: deliberately endangering the lives of other people, involuntary manslaughter, combat a catastrophe and damage biodiversity. Although the French system does not allow them to claim specific penalties, each of these crimes is punishable in the French penal code with at least one year in prison and tens of thousands of euros, explain the complaining NGOs.
TotalEnergies is the sixth largest emitter of carbon dioxide on the planet and a recent analysis by the British research center InfluenceMap It placed the company among the 20 fossil fuel producers that have expelled the most CO₂ since 1854, that is, one of the largest historically responsible for climate change. The complaining NGOs further argue that since 2021 the company has announced the development of 30 new oil and gas projects and more than 70% of its investments are related to fossil fuels. Although, as is the case with other oil companies around the world, renewable production is growing in TotalEnergies’ portfolio, its shareholders still do not consider it “profitable enough” to completely divest from its oil and gas projects.
It is not the first time that this company has faced a lawsuit in court. In fact, it has accumulated at least eight cases since 2019. Several of them have to do with greenwashing or ecopostureo similar to those that have motivated in Spain several environmental and consumer organizations to denounce Repsol before the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) and before the General Directorate of Consumer Affairs, dependent on the Government.
The last lawsuit against TotalEnergies dates back to March of this year: a Belgian farmer and rancher denounced the oil company with the support of several NGOs. They demand, among other things, that it reduce its greenhouse emissions by 60% between now and 2030. This latest case is inspired by the lawsuit that Friends of the Earth won in the Netherlands against Shell in 2021 and that forces this multinational to reduce its emissions by 45% in 2030 compared to 2019 levels.
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But this Tuesday’s complaint represents a leap since it seeks to open criminal proceedings against specific people, against the members of the oil company’s board of directors and against the main shareholders. “We intend for history to change,” Claire Nouvian, founder and director of BLOOM, tells EL PAÍS. The head of this organization explains via email that they have been preparing their “legal actions for almost two years, seeking all possible avenues to stop those who not only destroy the climate, but even speculate on the chaos caused by climate change”. He adds: “We have come to the conclusion that the only way to stop such cynical individuals and entities as TotalEnergies CEO Mr. Pouyanné and shareholders such as BlackRock and other financial institutions would be to sue them for criminal liability. We believe that, at the end of the day, the only thing they could fear would be being considered by society as criminals and facing the possibility of prison sentences.”
Once the document is submitted, the development of the case will be in the hands of the prosecutor, who can dismiss the complaint or open a judicial investigation. If it finally ends in the opening of a trial, BLOOM assures that it would be the first criminal trial in history against one of the largest carbon-emitting companies on the planet. “There is no equivalent case anywhere that takes directors and shareholders to criminal court on the grounds that they endanger lives and disasters that have already been attributed to climate change by science,” explains Nouvian. If the case were archived, this organization adds, the civil route would still remain.
In order to put together the lawsuit, the NGOs have included the testimonies of eight victims of the climate crisis, including a survivor of serious floods that occurred in Belgium, the son of a woman who died in a storm in France in 2020 and a survivor of a cyclone in Zimbabwe in 2019. What scientific studies have pointed out for decades is that climate change – caused by the greenhouse gases emitted by humans – not only results in an increase in average temperatures , but also an increase in extreme weather events.
BLOOM explains that, although the complainants are from outside France, national criminal law is applicable because the group’s strategic decisions that gave rise to the alleged crimes were taken in France.
“Total’s shareholders and directors have been consciously making decisions that could lead to a globocide, the destruction of the biosphere in general, not just humanity,” warns the director of BLOOM. “This is unprecedented and requires unprecedented thought, unprecedented rulings, legal arbitration and unprecedented lawmaking,” she warns. BLOOM, through a statement, adds: “Despite being perfectly aware that climate change kills, the directors and shareholders of the multibillion-dollar multinational have made the strategic decision to expand oil and gas production for a single reason: maximize profits.”
The complainants hope that justice will make it clear that all people are not equally “responsible for climate change.” “Certain people or entities such as the board of directors and the main shareholders of TotalEnergies have a greater responsibility in the global destruction of the world as we know it,” maintains the French NGO. “TotalEnergies has been aware of the direct relationship between its activities and climate change for more than half a century,” warns this environmental organization. Nouvian concludes: “As long as these irresponsible, profit-driven individuals and companies are not forced to stop by law, they will continue to suck every last drop of oil until the world falls apart.”
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