A COURT in Paris has ruled that TotalEnergies must account for its consumers’ greenhouse gas emissions, giving the French oil giant six months to report the environmental risks caused by the consumption of its fossil fuels.

The decision, which comes amid a record heat wave across Europe, fell short of requests from the climate organisations that brought the lawsuit to force the company to reduce its oil and gas production.

The court scheduled a new hearing for January to consider TotalEnergies’ new assessment under a 2017 law that requires companies to prevent human rights abuses and environmental risks.

The law is not intended to make companies “responsible for the risks linked to climate change, which result from all human activity on the planet since the industrial revolution” the court said in a statement, but rather requests them to act “according to their own situation.”

TotalEnergies expressed “satisfaction” that the court didn’t ban it from pursuing new oil and gas projects or force it to reduce oil and gas production.

Environmental groups Notre Affaire a Tous, Sherpa, ZEA, France Nature Environnement, together with the city of Paris, launched the proceedings in 2020.

The groups said that they were happy that the court decided that climate change was included in the 2017 duty of vigilance law.

“This decision marks a significant step forward, confirming that the duty of vigilance fully applies to climate risks generated by multinational corporations,” they said in a statement.

The groups say TotalEnergies is one of the largest historical emitters of greenhouse gas and asked the court to require the company to reduce oil production by 37 per cent and gas production by 25 per cent by 2030.

The lawsuit also asked for a halt to all new fossil fuel projects.

“Fossil fuel companies must be held responsible for the extreme heat gripping Europe by paying permanent windfall taxes to help cover the mounting health costs,” Climate campaigners 350.org said today.

The organisation’s Lisa Rose said: “Both science and the law are clear: polluters must answer for climate damage. Now it’s up to our leaders to make them pay.

“Forcing fossil fuel companies to cut emissions and pay their fair share is the only effective lasting response. Half-measures won’t cool this crisis, only a faster shift to renewables can.”