Following the success of the petition L'affaire du siècle, four environmental NGOs file a lawsuit against the French government for “climate inaction”.
The counter on the online petition page reads two million 157,000 supporters. The initiative "L'affaire du siècle" (The question of the century), launched in France by four non-governmental organisations to call on the Paris government to act in the fight against climate change, has achieved extraordinary success. Enough to persuade them to file a formal complaint against the executive led by conservative Édouard Philippe.
Today, Thursday 14 March, the four associations – Oxfam, Greenpeace, Notre affaire à tous and the Fondation Nicolas Hulot – will submit the lawsuit to a court in Paris. Following the example already set in the Netherlands by the NGO Urgenda, which succeeded in having its own government convicted and ordered to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
It is precisely those emissions that lie at the heart of the L'affaire du siècle petition. France, despite president Emmanuel Macron having consistently expressed his formal support for the fight against climate change, has failed to match words with actions. During 2017, emissions not only failed to fall but actually increased by 3.2% compared with the previous year.
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According to the Observatoire Climat Énergie, even in 2016 the gap between announced targets and actual results had been extremely worrying. Emissions should have been limited to 447,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent. Instead, they reached 458,200 tonnes. A trend that worsened further during 2017, with over 466,000 tonnes, against a pledge not to exceed 437,000. That amounts to +6.7% above the targets set.
This was also one of the reasons why, last August, the then minister for Ecological Transition Nicolas Hulot resigned. In a lengthy interview, he explained his profound disappointment at the government's actions. "I no longer want to lie to myself," he had said. Adding bluntly: "I no longer intend to let people think that my presence in government means we are on the right track."
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For its part, the government responded in February with a letter, stating that in its view France is already a world leader on the issue of climate change. A claim that failed to convince the associations, which decided to formally launch the legal battle.
"For years we have been trying to push for the necessary measures to be adopted. We needed to find a legal instrument with a major impact to ensure that the mobilisation would go beyond our usual activists," explained Noélie Coudurier, campaign coordinator for Oxfam.
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This is also why the associations decided to file the complaint on the eve of a weekend of global climate mobilisation. It will begin tomorrow with yet another Friday strike by students and continue on Saturday with the Climate Marches to be organised around the world. "Our legal action," the initiative's supporters stress, "is not symbolic. It is historic."
