Submission in Support of Petitioners Case No. CHR-NI-2016-0001 Introduction Climate change poses an enormous threat to the lives and well-being of individuals and communities across the world. The harmful effects of climate change include increases in the severity and frequency of sudden-onset disasters such as hurricanes and floods, as well as more gradual forms of environmental degradation that will undermine access to clean water, food and other key resources. These effects have serious implications for the enjoyment of human rights. This is not merely an abstract, future possibility. Many countries are already experiencing adverse effects as a result of climate change. The Philippines is no exception: the Global Climate Risk Index has consistently ranked the Philippines as one of the top five countries most affected by climate change.1 This is due in large part to the increasing frequency of typhoons, tropical storms, floods and landslides in the Philippines. Of the ten deadliest typhoons to hit the country since 1947, five have occurred since 2006. While each of these typhoons cannot be definitively attributed to climate change, scientists have confirmed that sea level rise contributed to the destruction caused by these typhoons.2 Extreme weather events and sea level rise are only part of the picture: as detailed below, there are many other ways in which climate change is adversely affecting the Philippines and other countries. Petitioners have alleged key facts and presented the essential legal arguments for this investigation, specifically that:  The companies collectively referred to as the “Carbon Majors” are responsible for a considerable share (approximately one fifth) of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that contribute to global climate change.  The Carbon Majors have legal obligations to: (1) avoid causing or contributing to adverse human rights impacts through their own activities, and (2) seek to prevent or mitigate adverse human rights 1 See, e.g., SÖNKE KREFT ET AL., GLOBAL CLIMATE RISK INDEX 2016 (Joanne Chapman Rose et al. eds., Germanwatch 2015); SÖNKE KREFT ET AL., GLOBAL CLIMATE RISK INDEX 2015 (Birgit Kolboske & Lindy Devarti eds., Germanwatch 2014). 2 WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION (WMO), WMO STATEMENT ON THE STATUS OF THE GLOBAL CLIMATE IN 2013 (2014) at 8. Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia Law School 3