Environmental Law

In a ruling issued handed down on March 27, 2023, the Conseil d’Etat (French Administrative Supreme Court) upheld the cancellation of the operating license for the Gardanne biomass plant located in the municipalities of Meyreuil and Gardanne, in the Bouches-du-Rhône region, which had been ordered by the Marseille Administrative Court on June 8, 2017.

The Conseil d’Etat based its decision on the fact that the impact study had failed to analyze the environmental effects of the plant’s wood supply process.

In a ruling issued on March 1, 2023, the Conseil d’Etat (French Administrative Supreme Court) clarified the conditions under which the administrative judge exercises his/her power to stay proceedings for the purpose of correcting the defects of an environmental authorization.

In two judgments handed down on February 28, 2023, the summary judge of the Paris Judicial Court declared inadmissible the claims of several environmental protection associations seeking that TotalEnergies be ordered to comply with its duty of vigilance obligations under the Law No. 2017-399 of March 27, 2017.

On February 1, 2023, the European Commission presented its Green Deal Industrial Plan to enhance the competitiveness of Europe’s net-zero industry and support the fast transition to climate neutrality.

The overall objective is to stimulate the development of clean technologies in the European Union and to ensure Europe’s strategic autonomy by reducing its dependence on third countries.

The 27th session of the Conference of the Parties, or “COP27”, took place from November 6 to 18 2022 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

The only noticeable achievement is the creation of a financial fund to compensate for loss and damage caused by extreme weather events.

After ordering the French State in 2017 to comply with air quality standards, and in 2021 to pay a penalty payment of €10 million for the period from January 11 to July 11, 2021, the Conseil d’Etat (French Administrative Supreme Court) ordered it to pay two new penalty payments of €10 million each for the two periods from July 2021 to January 2022 and from January 2022 to July 2022 for the persistent breach of the authorized nitrogen dioxide concentration limit.