Elisa and William C.-R., 38 and 28 years old, lost their mother in the floods which ravaged the Vésubie valley (Alpes-Maritimes) in October 2020, during storm Alex. Benjamin VB 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 destroyers of Philippine history, in December 2021: his house was damaged and he has been suffering 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 them and they have all experienced, in their flesh, disasters attributed to climate change. They are today demanding accountability from the French company TotalEnergies which, according to them, has “superior responsibility” in global warming.
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With three civil society organizations (Bloom, Planetary Health Alliance and Nuestro Futuro), they were to file a complaint against X on Tuesday, May 21, with the Paris judicial court. The complaint, that The world was able to consult, targets four offenses: “manslaughter”, “endangering others”, “abstention from fighting a disaster” and “attack on biodiversity”. “Faced with global warming, we will not be able to get out of it if the law does not take up the matter to prevent criminal actions,” estimates Claire Nouvian, the general director of the NGO Bloom. The date chosen to launch this legal action was not chosen at random: the oil and gas major, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary, is due to hold its general meeting on Friday May 24.
In the Vésubie valley, William C.-R. took thirteen days to find his mother’s body. “We must not wait to be hit hard, as I was, to act against global warming, he explains. TotalEnergies is preparing to launch around fifteen new fossil fuel projects when it should no longer launch any at all; this is beyond comprehension. » According to scientific studies, warming increases the frequency and strength of storms like that of October 2020. It also favors extreme events such as heatwaves, cyclones or fires.
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This is a complaint against …), who alone hold more than a quarter of the group’s capital. During general meetings, they systematically voted in favor of the climate strategy proposed by TotalEnergies and rejected resolutions calling for more ambitious commitments in the fight against global warming. “With this complaint, we want to put a sword of Damocles over the heads of shareholders, three days before the general meeting, and tell them that they can no longer quietly reject resolutions favorable to the climate”insists Claire Nouvian.
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