A court on Wednesday ruled that the French state failed to take sufficient action to fight climate change in a case brought by a group of nongovernmental organizations, reports The Independent.
In its ruling, the Paris administrative court recognized ecological damage linked to climate change and held the French state responsible for failing to fully meet its goals in reducing greenhouse gases.
President Emmanuel Macron who has been very vocal about his support for climate change action, pushed in December for beefing up the European Union’s 2030 targets to reduce greenhouse gases by at least 55% compared with 1990 levels — up from the previous 40% target.
But Oxfam France Greenpeace France and two other organizations say Macron’s lobbying for global climate action is not backed up by sufficient domestic measures to curb emissions blamed for global warming.
France is missing its national targets that had been set under the 2015 Paris Agreement to curb climate change, and the country has delayed most of its efforts until after 2020.