France: heatwave exposes the vulnerability of infrastructure
• A second intense heatwave is hitting France, lastingly disrupting trains, nuclear plants, data centers, hospitals, and schools, as national infrastructure was built for a climate that no longer exists.
• The crisis has highlighted how exposed these systems are to rising climate risks, affecting electricity generation, digital continuity, and regional cohesion.
• The country now faces the need to adapt infrastructure originally designed for stability to a far more volatile climate reality.
Source: Le Monde – "Canicule : 'Construites entre les années 1850 et les années 1990, nos infrastructures ont été conçues pour un climat tempéré que nous n'avons plus'"
TotalEnergies ordered to include indirect emissions
• On June 25, 2026, the Paris judicial court ordered TotalEnergies to include, within six months, the Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions tied to its customers in its vigilance plan, following a lawsuit brought by NGOs and the City of Paris.
• This legally binding decision strengthens the accountability of major energy companies on transparency and on factoring in their climate impact.
• It points to a major regulatory shift in the duty of vigilance, bringing all emissions into companies' environmental strategy.
Source: Novethic – "Décision historique : TotalEnergies doit inclure les émissions de ses clients dans son plan de vigilance"
The EU expands its carbon mechanism to curb carbon leakage
• EU member states, meeting in the European Council, agreed to expand the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) to new downstream products, including industrial equipment and electrical components, to strengthen the fight against circumvention and carbon leakage.
• The expansion aims to better protect the competitiveness of European companies by harmonizing the cost of carbon between imported goods and local production.
• It sets the stage for a major regulatory shift, which will be negotiated with the European Parliament to consolidate CBAM's effectiveness in meeting the EU's climate targets.
Source: ESG Today – "EU Member States Agree to Expand CBAM Carbon Import Tax to Downstream Products"
PFAS contamination: France faces a worrying health gap
• In July 2025, around 3,000 residents across thirteen towns in the Ardennes, including Malandry, were banned from drinking tap water after PFAS levels exceeded standards, with some readings reaching seven times the regulatory limit.
• This pollution, attributed to industrial activity and hard to treat despite costly technical trials, led local officials and associations to launch legal action and demand effective enforcement of the polluter-pays principle.
• With the recent recognition of certain toxic molecules and health professionals warning of the risks, the challenge lies in tightening regulation and mobilizing citizens to improve transparency and health protection.
Source: Vert le média – "'Nous n'avons pas les moyens de remettre l'eau en conformité, donc elle reste polluée' : les communes esseulées face au défi des PFAS"
Climate risk pushes companies to rethink the resilience of their supply chains
• In 2024, global economic losses linked to climate events reached $320 billion, while only 6.5% of companies viewed their supply chain as a priority material risk.
• This mismatch exposes sectors such as agrifood, critical metals, and energy to major vulnerabilities, driven in part by the geographic concentration of supply sources and the intensification of extreme events.
• European regulatory frameworks such as the CSRD are gradually pushing companies to factor in these physical risks to build genuine supply chain resilience.
Source: Novethic – "Supply chain : le climat redessine la géographie mondiale des approvisionnements"
Doctolib and AI at the center of health risks
• Since 2024, Doctolib has offered an AI-powered assistant built on large models from Microsoft, Google, and Anthropic, sparking debate over the handling of sensitive health data.
• This use of AI has raised major concerns about regulatory compliance and the risks tied to the confidentiality of medical information.
• The issue goes beyond Doctolib, as the rise of AI in healthcare heightens the need for a reliable, fit-for-purpose framework.
Source: Novethic – "Données de santé : Doctolib pris dans la tempête de l'IA"
France's recycling sector on the brink of collapse
• At AMORCE's annual conference on June 9, 2026, representatives of more than a thousand local authorities and associations sounded the alarm on the deep crisis hitting France's waste collection and recycling sectors.
• They denounced major difficulties such as the strangling of clothing collection by fast fashion, the rise of illegal construction-waste dumping, and delays in recycling plastic packaging.
• This situation jeopardizes the coherence of environmental policy and complicates the shift toward a systemic circular-economy model.
Source: Le Monde – "Déchets : les filières françaises de collecte et de recyclage en 'danger de mort', alertent les acteurs du secteur"
Intensive farming in France: fifty years of state impunity
• For fifty years, the French agrifood industry has failed to meet the legal obligation to treat animals as sentient beings, despite Article L214 of the 1976 Rural Code and repeated warnings from the L214 association.
• This situation, worsened by enforcement delays, the prevalence of intensive farming, and recent policy choices, has had major consequences for animal welfare, worker health, and the environment.
• Advocates have put forward concrete measures and are calling for a systemic shift of the farming model toward more respectful practices and reduced meat consumption.
Source: Reporterre – "Élevages intensifs : 50 ans de mépris de la loi sur la sensibilité des animaux"
Wage inequality in Europe: a system serving a minority
• On June 9, 2026, the NGO Oxfam published a report highlighting widening wage inequality within major European companies such as Carrefour, Inditex, and Stellantis.
• These gaps, including CEO pay reaching up to 360 times the average employee salary and dividends sometimes exceeding profits, have deepened social disparities across the continent.
• The findings underscore the systemic challenge of wealth redistribution and social justice within the European business world.
Source: Novethic – "Carrefour, Inditex, Stellantis… : actionnaires et PDG raflent la mise, au détriment des salariés"
Climate and finance: regulators step up ESG pressure
• As ISO published a draft standard for carbon neutrality, EQT signed a €4.4 billion ESG-linked loan and Frontier raised over $900 million for carbon removal investments, backed by Google and Anthropic.
• Several bodies, including the Bank of England and the European Banking Authority, have integrated climate risk into their regulatory frameworks, while the EU decided to extend its carbon border adjustment mechanism to processed products.
• These initiatives and tools aim to strengthen regulatory oversight, transparency, and funding for the climate transition and decarbonization.
Source: ESG Today – "Week in Review"
