As we learned from their lawyers on Monday, we learned from their lawyers on Monday, confirming information from Le Monde.
Darwin Climax Coalitions, Sea Shepherd France, Wild Legal and Stop EACOP-Stop Total in Uganda filed the complaint on September 22.
“As the UN worries about ongoing ‘climate collapse,’ TotalEnergies must no longer knowingly, freely and with impunity fuel climate change,” said lawyers William Bourdon and Vincent Brengarth. “It is time for the company to be held accountable for its activities,” they added in a statement.
In her opinion, this lawsuit is “unprecedented” as it brings the company TotalEnergies “to criminal court for acts similar to climate murder that were previously only admissible in civil courts.”
The complaint targets several crimes: failure to respond to disasters, involuntary attacks on personal integrity, destruction, damage or deterioration of property of others that could pose a danger to people, and involuntary manslaughter.
TotalEnergies “is not aware of this complaint and does not know what it is aimed at,” the company said in response to questions from AFP. “The Company conducts its business in accordance with its operating standards and laws and regulations. “It will respond to requests from authorities if necessary,” she added.
TotalEnergies last year announced a $10 billion investment agreement with Uganda, Tanzania and China’s CNOOC, including the construction of a 1,443-kilometer heated oil pipeline (EACOP) connecting Lake Albert deposits in western Uganda on the Tanzanian coast Indian Ocean connects ocean.
The group plans to drill nearly 400 oil wells in Murchison Falls Nature Park – the White Nile Falls, one of the most powerful in the world – a remarkable biodiversity reserve and Uganda’s largest national park.
For the associations’ lawyers, this project would “cause significant population displacement” and “contribute to significant impoverishment of the local population.” It will also have a major impact on “many natural areas,” they emphasize.
The plaintiffs accuse the group of “failing to take action to combat the catastrophe that has already affected half of the world’s population.” They denounce their communication strategy “aimed at creating the illusion of an ambitious environmental strategy in order to hide the lack of concrete and adapted measures” to combat global warming.