MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has said that the world’s largest fossil fuel companies may be sued and held legally and morally liable for human rights violations for causing climate change that had devastated entire communities in an internationally unprecedented ruling that brings victims closer to attaining justice.
The findings in the landmark case that followed a four-year investigation by the CHR were disclosed in a resolution made public by Commissioner Roberto Cadiz, who led the inquiry, at a side event of the United Nations climate change conference in Madrid, Spain, on Monday night.
The CHR had acted on a petition filed in September 2015 by 32 civil society groups and private individuals, who requested the rights agency to investigate the responsibility of the so-called “carbon majors” in producing greenhouse gases that cause climate change.
Scientists have blamed climate change and global warming for the strongest typhoons and the heaviest rains that have devastated many parts of the Philippines in recent years.
Carbon majors
The 47 respondents in the case included coal, cement, gas and oil transnational corporations, such as Shell, Chevron, BP Petroleum, ExxonMobil and Total, the world’s largest fossil fuel producers.
CHR probers looked into the corporations’ liability in the violations of and threats to human rights resulting from the climate crisis.
“This is the first time that a constitutionally mandated body anywhere in the world had officially declared that climate change constitutes an emergency situation,” Hasminah Paudac, one of the lawyers for the petitioners, said at a press briefing on Tuesday.
Paudac called the resolution a “major victory for climate justice.”
She said the commission concluded that people affected by climate change deserved legal remedies.
“The CHR can make recommendations to the government, both executive and legislative branches, to pursue policies on human rights and climate change,” Paudac said.
The petitioners have yet to receive a copy of the resolution.
‘Beacon of hope’
They may opt to pursue civil and criminal action against the companies, with the resolution forming the legal backdrop of their cases. It was unclear where they could file the cases, whether in the Philippines or in the home countries of these corporations or in international tribunals.
Amnesty International said the CHR’s resolution created a “beacon of hope” for the victims of the climate crisis.
“Their landmark announcement creates a major legal precedent,” said Ashfaq Khalfan, the human rights watchdog’s director of law and policy.
“It opens the door for further litigation, and even criminal investigations,” he said. “The decision also affirms that fossil fuel companies have to respect human rights and invest in clean energy.”
The CHR held several public hearings in Quezon City, New York City and London. Several survivors of supertyphoons and severe floods testified on how climate change impacts had upended their lives, livelihood and communities.
Scientists and other experts also presented evidence on how man-made climate change had been fueled by the carbon majors, which continued their operations despite knowing its effects on the environment.
The respondents were invited but none sent a representative to any of the hearings, including those held abroad, according to Cadiz.
Several of them, however, sought the dismissal of the petition on grounds that the CHR did not have any jurisdiction over them, Paudac said.
The commission visited several climate-impacted communities in the Philippines as part of its probe.
Climate justice
Petitioners hailed the long-awaited resolution, which they said could further energize the growing global movement for climate justice.
“We want the world to know that justice must be served to those who have been impacted,” said Lea Guerrero, Greenpeace Philippines country director.
“Even if this case was fought in the Philippines, these findings are meaningful, not just for Filipinos, but to all communities fighting for climate justice around the world,” she said.
Survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan), who were among the petitioners, welcomed the resolution as a step toward justice.
“While this is not a total closure, it’s a form of justice,” said artist-activist AG Saño, who survived Yolanda’s onslaught in Tacloban City in November 2013, but lost one of his best friends in the disaster.
“This is just the start of the fight, and it can be used as an instrument for bigger battles in the legal arena,” he said.
Social worker Marinel Ubaldo, whose town in Eastern Samar province was flattened by Yolanda, said the resolution provided a sense of justice for her community.
Ubaldo was among those who testified during a public hearing in New York City last year. She did not lose any family members or friends to the typhoon but the mental scars from their harrowing ordeal still were lingering.
“This is so important because as an activist and survivor, it gives more meaning to what I am doing and to the fight that I am fighting,” Ubaldo said.