A Paris court has ordered TotalEnergies to take account of the greenhouse gases released when its customers use its products, in a ruling described as a landmark for climate litigation in France — though it fell short of the production cuts campaigners had sought.
What the court decided
The Paris Judicial Court ruled on June 25 that the French energy giant must revise its corporate "vigilance plan" to assess and report on the climate risks linked to so-called Scope 3 emissions — those produced when end-users burn the company's oil and gas, Euronews reported. The court reasoned that producing and selling fuel is inseparably linked to its eventual combustion, and gave TotalEnergies six months to submit an updated plan, with a follow-up hearing expected in about half a year, the Associated Press reported.
What Scope 3 means
Companies report emissions in three "scopes": direct emissions from their own operations (Scope 1), emissions from the energy they buy (Scope 2), and all other indirect emissions across their value chain, including from customers using their products (Scope 3). For an oil company, Scope 3 is by far the largest part of its carbon footprint — the emissions from motorists, airlines and households burning its fuels. TotalEnergies had focused its legal climate planning on the much smaller Scopes 1 and 2.
The case and the law
The suit was brought in 2020 by a coalition of NGOs — including Notre Affaire à Tous, Sherpa and France Nature Environnement — together with the City of Paris, under France's 2017 "duty of vigilance" law, which requires large French companies to identify and prevent serious environmental and human-rights harms across their operations and business relationships, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre noted. The case was initially dismissed as inadmissible before an appeals court allowed it to proceed in 2024.
TotalEnergies' response
TotalEnergies had argued the vigilance law was not designed for climate risks and that it could not be held responsible for emissions from its customers. After the ruling, the company noted the court had rejected the plaintiffs' most far-reaching demands — there was no order to halt new projects or cut output, which campaigners had wanted — and indicated it would update its plan drawing on existing sustainability reporting. It did not immediately say whether it would appeal.
Why it matters
The decision is significant on two counts: it is the first time France's pioneering vigilance law has been applied to climate change, and the court accepted that a producer bears legal responsibility to account for downstream emissions, not just its customers. Campaigners called it a step forward while acknowledging it did not force changes to production; TotalEnergies stressed the limits of the order. A future hearing will test whether the company's revised plan satisfies the court — and whether judges press further. With a similar EU-wide due-diligence directive adopted in 2024, the ruling could influence how energy firms across Europe disclose their climate obligations.
