On Wednesday 3 February, French MEP Marie Toussaint (Greens/EFA) described as historic the decision of her country’s court to condemn the French state for “climate inaction”, in the context of the “Case of the century”, a petition launched on her initiative at the end of 2018 and which collected more than 2 million signatures in less than a month.
“What the judges are saying today is that States can no longer continue to place the responsibility on others (third countries, companies, or citizens), but must commit themselves fully, sincerely and concretely to the fight against climate disruption”, was Ms Toussaint’s reaction, along with the satisfaction of environmental NGOs.
In concrete terms, for the first time the French justice system has found the State “guilty” because it has failed to meet its commitments to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) over the period 2015-2018.
The court then ordered the State to pay a symbolic one euro to the four associations at the origin of the complaint (Notre affaire à tous, Greenpeace, Oxfam and the Nicolas Hulot Foundation) as compensation for “non-pecuniary loss”, while also recognising environmental damage.
There are increasing instances of trials of this kind throughout the world. In August, the Irish Supreme Court, for example, quashed the Irish government’s plan to combat global warming on the grounds that it was not specific enough. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)