The trial by four environmental NGOs against the French state began Thursday at the Administrative Court of Paris, accused of not doing enough to reduce greenhouse gases, and therefore of not respecting the commitments made with the Paris Agreement on climate 2015. The lawsuit, as reported by the French environmental website Actu Environnement, was initiated by Greenpeace, Oxfam, the Nicolas Hulot Foundation and Notre Affaire à tous.
The sentence is expected in two weeks.
The four associations in 2018 had collected 2.3 million signatures on a petition to the French government entitled "L'affaire du siecle", in which they asked to do more against climate change.
Not satisfied with the executive's response, they filed a lawsuit in the administrative court.
According to the NGOs, "the draft law on climate will not make it possible to achieve the goal of a reduction of at least 40% in emissions in 2030 compared to 1990 - and therefore even less the new European goal of a reduction of at least 55 % in 2030 "Public prosecutor Amélie Fort-Besnard asked the Administrative Court to acknowledge the state's failure to meet its own climate objectives, and to award a symbolic compensation of 1 euro to each of the applicant NGOs.
According to the latter, if the court agrees with them, it will be "a historic progress in French law and a great victory for the climate. All victims of climate change will be able to rely on this jurisprudence to assert their right and obtain redress" .
