Elisa and William C.-R., aged 38 and 28, lost their mother in the floods that ravaged the Vésubie Valley (in southeastern France) in October 2020, during storm Alex. Benjamin V. B. R., 17, failed to save his friend Rosa from drowning during the violent floods that hit Belgium in July 2021. Franck M. survived super typhoon Rai, one of the most destructive in Philippine history, in December 2021: His house was damaged and he has suffered from anxiety ever since. Alexandros K. and his family narrowly escaped the flames that devastated Greece during the fires and heatwave of summer 2021. There are eight of these claimants and they have all personally experienced disasters attributed to climate disruption. Today, they are calling for holding the French company TotalEnergies to account, which they believe has a "greater responsibility" for global warming.
Along with three civil society organizations (Bloom, Alliance santé planétaire [Planetary Health Alliance] and Nuestro futuro [Our Future]), they were set to lodge a complaint on Tuesday, May 21, with the Paris judicial court. The complaint, which Le Monde has been able to consult, targets four offenses: "manslaughter," "endangering others," "failing to combat a disaster," and "harming biodiversity." "Claire Nouvian, director general of the Bloom NGO, said that "in the face of global warming, we won't be able to cope if the law doesn't take up the case to prevent criminal actions." The date chosen to launch the legal action is not random: the oil major, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary, is due to hold its annual general meeting on Friday.
In the Vésubie Valley, it took William C.-R. 13 days to find his mother's body. "We can't wait to be hit hard, as I was, before taking action against global warming," he explained. "TotalEnergies is getting ready to launch some 15 new fossil projects when they shouldn't be launching any at all; it's beyond comprehension." According to scientific studies, warming increases the frequency and strength of storms like the one in October 2020. It also favors extreme events such as heatwaves, cyclones and wildfires.
Although the complaint is against a third party, it directly targets the company's CEO, Patrick Pouyanné, as well as its board of directors and its 10 biggest shareholders (BlackRock, Groupe Crédit Agricole, Goldman Sachs...), who together hold more than a quarter of the Group's capital. At shareholders' meetings, they have systematically voted in favor of the climate strategy proposed by TotalEnergies, and have rejected resolutions calling for more ambitious commitments in the fight against climate change. "With this complaint, we want to put a sword of Damocles over the heads of shareholders, three days before the Annual General Meeting, and tell them that they can no longer quietly reject climate-friendly resolutions," insisted Nouvian.
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