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INPRIMATU
The French Government is in court for breaches of its promise against climate change
  • The process launched two years ago by the four environmental groups has come to court: since last Thursday, the French Government is being tried at the Paris Administrative Court for failing to comply with measures to combat climate change. The ruling, which will come at the end of this month, provides for it to be contrary to the Government, but it will have more symbolic weight than the real penalty.
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Environmental groups Greenpeace, Oxfam, Nicolas Hulot Foundation and Notre affaire à tous got two million signatures – unprecedented support in the state – to bring the French Government to the bench of the court. Imputation: Non-compliance with the CO2 emission reduction obligation. With regard to 1990 emissions, the government has already announced that it will reduce its emissions by 40% by 2030, but its current policy is difficult to achieve. In the 2018-2019 period, emissions were reduced by 0.9%, but should be reduced by 1.5% per year, to meet the requirements.

The ruling, which will be announced in about two weeks, provides for the government to be found guilty, but it will be symbolic, as the sanction requested by the public or fiscal minister for the French Government is a euro for environmental groups for "moral damage" and the provision of new documents showing their willingness to cut emissions, but not to take concrete action.

However, the environmental groups are satisfied with what has also been named “Subalterno Case”. They say that it will demonstrate that the authorities make fine green promises but that they do not systematically comply with them and that it will also be a precedent for citizens and other associations to be able to claim compensation from the state. “The goal is for the authorities to find it difficult not to comply with orders and to truly commit to comply with them.”

The Macron Government will present the new climate law in the Council of Ministers on 12 February.

Greenpeace, Oxfam and Ecologists in Action launched a similar initiative in the Spanish State last September, in response to the failure to comply with the measures agreed by the Spanish Government on climate change.