Court in France rejects NGO's lawsuit to stop TotalEnergies' oil megaproject in Uganda

On February 28, a court in Nanterre (France) declared inadmissible a lawsuit filed by six NGOs to stop the TotalEnergies oil megaproject in protected areas of Uganda and Tanzania.

The French energy giant's $10 billion Tilenga project, which includes drilling wells and building a cross-border oil pipeline, is in the final stages of construction. The six NGOs accuse TotalEnergies of disrespecting the European principle of "vigilance" in preserving the environment and human rights.

Source. This was reported by RFI.

The court ruled that the environmental associations had violated the stages of the lawsuit procedure by failing to address the issue on the merits.

The trial was interesting because it was the first time the court considered compliance with a law adopted in 2017 in France that requires giant companies to "exercise vigilance" in complying with the principles of "environmental and human rights protection both in the EU and beyond."

The business community and lawyers were waiting for the judges' decision with special attention. In particular, because the contours of French law remain vague. So far, no court has been able to say what the standard of expected vigilance required of companies is. In December, a Paris court was forced to ask the French Academy for help in defining the concept of "vigilance". The judges do not yet have a legally enshrined definition of this concept.

On its website, TotalEnergies clarifies that "the Lake Albert oil development project and the construction of a cross-border pipeline are part of a sensitive social and environmental context that requires specific measures to be taken in terms of the environment and respect for the rights of communities."

The $10 billion project is being implemented in partnership with oil giant CNOOC.

TotalEnergies' case was the first, but it was not the only one. In 2020, a lawsuit was filed against EDF in connection with a wind farm project in Mexico, and in 2021, a lawsuit was filed against Suez in Chile, where residents of a city have been deprived of access to drinking water for a long time. In the same year, the casino giant was accused in court of involvement in the destruction of the Amazon forest.

Analysts predict further growth in the number of lawsuits against giant companies in the European Union.