PARIS: A French court on Wednesday held the state responsible for its failure to take sufficient measures to halt climate change, a first in the country hailed as a victory by NGOs who brought the case with the backing of over two million citizens.

The administrative court in Paris ruled that the government’s failure to convert its commitments on reducing greenhouse gas emissions into policy made it “responsible... for some of the ecological damage seen.” It ordered the payment of a symbolic one euro in damages to the four NGOs behind the complaint.

The four NGOs behind the case said in a joint statement that it was the first time that the French state had been “found at fault in the fight against climate change.”

While the damages are symbolic, the four groups, which include the French branches of Greenpeace and Oxfam, said it had set an important legal precedent.