A court in Paris has ordered TotalEnergies to include indirect greenhouse gas emissions in its corporate vigilance plan. This is the first time the 2017 duty of vigilance law has been applied to risks related to climate change.

巴黎一家法院已命令 TotalEnergies 將間接溫室氣體排放量納入其公司盡職調查計劃中。這是 2017 年盡職調查法首次應用於與氣候變化相關的風險。

The legal case began in 2020 when the city of Paris and four environmental organizations sued the company. They argued that the 2017 law requires companies to prevent environmental risks, which includes global climate change. Specifically, they pointed out that TotalEnergies ignored 'Scope 3' emissions—the pollution created by customers using the company's products. In contrast, TotalEnergies asserted that the law only applied to its own internal operations and contractors, claiming that the speed of the energy transition should be decided by the government, not the company.

這起法律案件始於 2020 年，當時巴黎市政府與四個環保組織起訴了該公司。他們主張 2017 年的法律要求公司必須防止環境風險，而這包括全球氣候變化。具體而言，他們指出 TotalEnergies 忽略了「範疇 3」排放——即客戶使用公司產品所產生的污染。相反，TotalEnergies 堅稱該法僅適用於其內部運作和承包商，並聲稱能源轉型的速度應由政府決定，而非由公司決定。

The court rejected the company's narrow view and ruled that Scope 3 emissions are directly linked to the production of oil and gas. Consequently, the judge declared the current plan 'incomplete' and gave the company six months to update its risk assessment. However, the court refused to order more extreme measures, such as stopping new fossil fuel projects or forcing specific production cuts. The judge emphasized that the law does not allow the court to make operational business decisions for the company.

法院拒絕了公司狹隘的觀點，並裁定範疇 3 排放與石油及天然氣的生產有直接關聯。因此，法官宣布目前的計劃「不完整」，並給予公司六個月的時間更新其風險評估。然而，法院拒絕下達更激進的指令，例如停止新的化石燃料項目或強制削減特定產量。法官強調，法律並不允許法院為公司做出經營上的業務決定。

This decision follows a global trend of courts intervening in climate issues, similar to recent rulings in the Netherlands and the European Court of Human Rights. Legal experts suggest that including climate risks in these laws helps hold companies accountable. Furthermore, this case may serve as a model for other European countries to follow in the future.

這一決定遵循了全球法院介入氣候議題的趨勢，類似於近期在荷蘭和歐洲人權法院的裁決。法律專家建議，將氣候風險納入這些法律有助於追究公司責任。此外，此案未來可能成為其他歐洲國家效仿的模式。

TotalEnergies must now update its environmental reports to include emissions from its consumers, and the court will review the changes in January.

TotalEnergies 現在必須更新其環境報告，將消費者產生的排放量納入其中，法院將於一月審查這些變動。