ESG Enforcement Tracker

In January 2020, a group of NGOs, including Sherpa and France Nature Environnement, and 16 local communities, including the cities of Paris, New York, Grenoble, Bayonne and Nanterre, brought proceedings alleging that TotalEnergies failed to comply with its “duty of vigilance” in respect of the environmental impacts of its activities, including alignment with the Paris Agreement. The claimants took the view that TotalEnergies’s “vigilance plan”, published in 2019, contravened this duty.

In July 2023, the Paris judicial court dismissed the claim on procedural grounds. In June 2024, the Paris Court of Appeal held the claim admissible (while limiting standing to certain claimants) and remitted the case for consideration on the merits.

On 25 June 2026, the Paris judicial court issued a substantive ruling, holding that climate-related risks fall within the scope of the duty of vigilance law and that TotalEnergies must identify and disclose the risks associated with emissions from the use of its products, including indirect (Scope 3) emissions, and set out how it will address them. The court found the company’s vigilance plan incomplete and required the company to update it within six months.

However, the court declined to grant the more far-reaching remedies sought by the claimants, such as ordering the suspension of new fossil fuel projects or imposing specific emissions reduction targets, on the basis that it is not for the court to dictate the company’s operational choices.