In confirming a Bangladeshi man’s residence permit renewal, a French appeals court has made legal history by taking into account environmental conditions in the applicant’s country of origin. In an apparent first, the Bordeaux-based court “effectively declared that the environment - air pollution - meant it was unsafe to send this man back,” according to Dr. Gary Fuller, an air pollution scientist at Imperial College London.
French Court to Hear Landmark Case on Climate Inaction
A French court in Paris will begin hearings on January 14 on a case filed two years ago by four NGOs and supported by an online petition of 2.3 million signatures, accusing the French government of failing to act on climate change. The petitioners want the court to hold the French government to account for ecological damage, sending a message to urge other governments to take up stronger climate action.
In a joint statement, the NGOs noted the government’s efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions, which “under this government's five-year term dropped at a pace that was twice as slow as the trajectories foreseen under the law."