‘Big polluting companies like Total have climate obligations under French law’

Genie Godula is pleased to welcome Justine Ripoll, Campaign Manager for French NGO “Notre Affaire à Tous”, and one of four NGOs who brought the climate case against Total Energy. She argues that climate litigation not as a symbolic confrontation with the fossil fuel industry, but as an evolving mechanism of governance that seeks to clarify and enforce corporate responsibility under climate law. Ripoll shifts the conversation from technological inevitability to political and ethical prioritisation, arguing that the remaining carbon budget should be allocated according to collective social needs rather than commercial interests. She asserts that multinational energy companies can no longer position climate change solely as a matter for governments. Instead, she contends that businesses whose activities substantially contribute to greenhouse gas emissions carry independent legal obligations that courts are increasingly willing to recognise.