French Government Convicted of Greenwashing

Imagine if your federal and provincial governments could be put on trial for failing to meet their commitments to fight climate change.

Today, a court in Paris convicted the French state of failing to fight the climate crisis and not keeping its promises to slash greenhouse gas emissions. The case, brought by four environmental groups, was a huge win in the effort to make governments live up to their responsibilities.

'"This is an historic win for climate justice. The decision not only takes into consideration what scientists say and what people want from French public policies, but it should also inspire people all over the world to hold their governments accountable for climate change in their courts,” said Jean-François Julliard, the executive director of Greenpeace France, one of the plaintiffs.

"He said the judgment would be used to push the French state to act against the climate emergency. “No more blah blah,” he added.

"Cécilia Rinaudo, the director of Notre Affaire à Tous (It’s Everyone’s Business), another plaintiff, said it was an “immense victory” for climate activists around the world.

'"It’s a victory for all the people who are already facing the devastating impact of the climate crisis that our leaders fail to tackle. The time has come for justice,” Rinaudo said.

Of particular note was the court's ruling that, continued intransigence by the French government could be redressed in damages.

"The court ruled that compensation for “ecological damage” was admissible, and declared the state “should be held liable for part of this damage if it had failed to meet its commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions”.

"It did not uphold a claim for symbolic compensation, saying compensation should be made “in kind”, with damages awarded “only if the reparation measures were impossible or insufficient”.

This is far from some conclusive defeat of environmentally lax states and their governments. It is, however, an important step in getting to that tipping point at which governments' favourite tactic, greenwashing, triggers unacceptable consequences.

Lets be blunt. States, especially petro-states like our own, breach their fundamental duty for the protection and wellbeing of their people when they choose to fail in meeting their promises to fight climate change. This has gone from a problem to a crisis that heralds a catastrophe if governments are not brought to heel and, at this point, only the courts have much ability to force the issue.

Joe Biden is cutting off subsidies to fossil energy producers. We're not merely subsidizing them to the tune of tens of billions of dollars every year, now we're building pipelines for them on the taxpayers' dime. What is our excuse? When are we going to compel Big Oil to fund the remediation of the ecological damage they have caused? If we rely on the ballot box that will probably never happen. Time is not on our side and the pace of political action is dangerously moribund.