A Paris court decision in a landmark climate change case was tied directly to a record heat wave in France. The ruling found that TotalEnergies must assess and account for the greenhouse gas emissions associated with how customers consume the company’s gas and oil products. The court gave TotalEnergies six months to report on the environmental risks related to those emissions.

The lawsuit was brought by climate and environmental groups along with the city of Paris under France’s “corporate duty of vigilance” framework, a 2017 law requiring companies to prevent environmental risks and human rights abuses. The court scheduled a further hearing for January to examine TotalEnergies’ updated assessment.

While climate organizations had asked the court to go further—pushing for reductions in oil and gas production—the court did not order an outright ban or a direct production cut in this ruling. TotalEnergies said it was satisfied that it was not prevented from continuing new oil and gas projects, and said it would update its climate policies following the decision.

The case is being treated as a precedent because it applies the duty of vigilance approach to climate-related impacts, potentially influencing similar legal efforts across Europe. The ruling also comes as Europe experiences extreme heat, with impacts ranging from public advisories to disruption of normal schedules and visitor restrictions at major sites