The French state has been found guilty of climate action in what campaigners have dubbed “the case of the century.” Today the Paris administrative court concluded France has failed to do enough to meet its own commitments on the climate crisis and is legally responsible for the ensuing ecological damage. France is the third European country where legal action by campaigners has highlighted significant failings in state action on climate change and forced politicians to act, after the landmark Urgenda case in the Netherlands in 2019 and the Irish Supreme Court’s decision in the national Climate Case last year. The court said it would not be appropriate to fine the government in this case but would publish measures to fix the problem in two months’ time. Instead of fines, the French government was ordered to pay one symbolic Euro to each of the four NGOs that brought the case for compensation of “moral damages” – essentially harm to their reputation.
By Isabella Kaminski. Desmog. February 3, 2021.
