On October 11, 2022, NGOs Comissão Pastoral da Terra and Notre Affaire à Tous sent a notice of intent to sue BNP Paribas in relation to its financing of businesses allegedly responsible for the deforestation of Amazon and violations of human rights. Considering the answer by BNP Paribas as largely insufficient and non-satisfactory, the NGOs have decided to bring suit before the Judicial Court of Paris.
The notice of intent to sue - which was the first, and necessary, pre-trial stage – and the following summons filed before the Judicial Court of Paris, claim BNP Paribas violated the loi sur le devoir de vigilance of 2017 (Law on the duty of vigilance; incorporated in articles L. 225-102-4 and 225-102-5 of the French Commercial Code).
The law on the duty of vigilance provides that specific companies (those who employ “at least five thousand employees within the company and its direct and indirect subsidiaries, whose head office is located on French territory, or that has at least ten thousand employees in its service and in its direct or indirect subsidiaries, whose head office is located on French territory or abroad”) must establish a plan to prevent the violation of human rights and environmental damage that may occur in the course of their business. The plan must “include reasonable vigilance measures to identify risks and prevent serious violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms, the health and safety of individuals and the environment, resulting from the activities of the company and those of the companies it controls (...) as well as from the activities of subcontractors or suppliers with whom there is an established business relationship, when these activities are related to that relationship.” If the plan is not correctly drafted or is inadequate to measure and prevent these risks, the company is liable for the damages that it might have prevented. Anyone with a legitimate interest can also ask for injunctive relief to force the company to comply with the law, a groundbreaking preventative mechanism for French legal proceedings.
The summons sent by Comissão Pastoral da Terra and Notre Affaire à Tous to BNP Paribas details multiple violations of the law, stating that the bank’s vigilance plan is not adequate to prevent the violations of human rights.
In particular, BNP Paribas provides financial services without adequate due diligence to corporations, such as Marfrig, one of the world’s largest producers of beef. Suppliers to Marfrig have allegedly engaged in severe deforestation of the Amazon, land-grabbing of protected indigenous territories, and forced labor in cattle farms.
The beef sector is the largest driver of deforestation in the Amazon, and it is also among the largest sources of methane emissions.
The violations relate not only to how BNP Paribas’ plan is drafted but also the lack of clarity concerning int environmental commitments and the fact that the plan identifies as a risk only deforestation, and not also the seizure of indigenous peoples’ land, forced labor, and methane emissions. Moreover, the plan does contain adequate measures to mitigate the abovementioned risks of human rights’ violations.
Therefore, the plaintiffs claim that the Court has to order BNP Paribas to fulfill its obligation relating to the duty of vigilance and, therefore, to implement a new plan.
In this plan, BNP Paribas should:
- group together all the elements relating to the law on the duty of vigilance within its plan;
- put an end to the ambiguity of its environmental commitments within its vigilance plan and in its public communication, which contributes to greenwashing;
- identify the risks of invasion of indigenous territories, slavery-like practices, and methane emissions, particularly from cattle farming and in Brazil, and adopt appropriate risk mitigation and prevention measures accordingly;
- measures to assess the situation of suppliers and take appropriate risk mitigation and prevention actions to ensure that its customers’ supply chains do not contribute to deforestation, use slavery-like practices, or infringe on the rights of indigenous peoples;
- establish an easily accessible alert and reporting mechanism for third parties who are or may be affected by negative impacts caused by the Group's activities and customers.
- establish a specific system for monitoring the measures implemented and evaluating their effectiveness.
Case Documents:
Filing Date | Type | File | Summary |
---|---|---|---|
02/27/2023 | Summons | Download | No summary available. |