Groundbreaking Inquiry in Philippines Links Carbon Majors to Human Rights Impacts of Climate Change, Calls for Greater Accountability

December 9, 2019

Madrid, Spain – At the United Nations climate negotiations (COP25) today, the national Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines announced the findings and recommendations from its path-breaking four-year inquiry into the human rights impacts of climate change in the Philippines and the contribution of 47 Carbon Major companies to those impacts. The inquiry was announced in 2015 in the lead up to the Paris climate negotiations and in response to a petition from Greenpeace Southeast Asia (GPSEA) and an array of Philippine communities affected by Typhoon Haiyan. The inquiry is the first of its kind to undertake a serious examination of how the world’s largest producers of fossil fuels have contributed to climate-related human rights violations.

The Commission found that climate change constitutes an emergency situation that demands urgent action. The Commission further concluded that Carbon Major companies played a clear role in anthropogenic climate change and its attendant impacts. The Commission found that, based on the evidence, Carbon Major companies could be found legally and morally liable for human rights violations arising from climate change.

While the Commission did not undertake to adjudicate the responsibility of the Carbon Major companies, it concluded that people affected by climate change and whose human rights have been dramatically impaired deserve access to remedy and access to justice. Significantly, the Commission found that in circumstances involving obstruction, deception, or fraud, the relevant mens rea (criminal intent) may exist to hold companies accountable under not only civil but criminal laws.

“The Commission’s recognition that there is evidence of criminal intent with respect to climate denial and obstruction is particularly significant, and a major development for the Carbon Majors,” said Carroll Muffett, President of the Center for International Environmental Law. “Both for civil and criminal liability in jurisdictions around the world, the Commission’s findings in this inquiry represent not an end of the legal investigations into Carbon Majors companies but a major new beginning for them.”

While human rights law provides the appropriate standards, the Commission concluded that cases can and should be brought in domestic courts under national laws. Where existing laws are not adequate, the Commission recommended that governments have an obligation to adopt legal reforms to ensure access to justice for affected communities.

“As the human rights impacts of climate change increase, existing national human rights institutions must urgently step up within the terms of their mandate to address this existential threat,” said Sébastien Duyck, Senior Attorney at CIEL. “The investigation of the Philippines Commission demonstrates in particular the importance for these institutions to support governments in ensuring that businesses uphold their human rights and due diligence responsibility in the context of climate change. National human rights institutions have a key role to play in working with national governments to ensure that private actors are effectively regulated to prevent further harm and – when their mandate allows – to hold private actors accountable for climate-related human rights harms.”

Over the course of its inquiry, the Commission drew on evidence and expert testimony from dozens of scientists, legal and human rights experts, researchers, medical professionals, and representatives from frontline communities – from fisherfolk to farmers to trans activists. It heard compelling evidence linking the burning of gas, oil, and coal to the catastrophic impacts of Typhoon Haiyan and other climate related events in the Philippines and beyond, and extensive evidence about the early knowledge and continuing responsibility of Carbon Major companies with respect to those impacts.

CIEL supported this process through the submission of documentary evidence, amicus briefs, and expert testimony on numerous occasions.

“The massive body of scientific data, documentary evidence, and legal analysis amassed during this inquiry is unparalleled in its depth and scope,” said Muffett. “That evidence itself is one of the most significant outcomes of the Commission’s inquiry. It will be valuable to courts and human rights bodies around the world who are confronting these same questions in the face of rising climate harms.  For courts and companies alike, one conclusion is inescapable: Carbon Majors and other companies have clear responsibilities to protect human rights, in the context of climate change and beyond.”