companies.38 The Top 20 fossil fuel investor-owned companies contributed 278.2 GtCO2e, equivalent to 19.2% of the global historic emissions through 2010;39 and • The 50 investor-owned Carbon Major companies contributed 315 Gt CO2e, equivalent to 21.72% of estimated global industrial emissions through 2010.40 This Petition focuses on the responsibility of the investor-owned Carbon Major companies, the largest producers of crude oil, natural gas, coal, and cement. Acknowledging that the list of 50 investor-owned companies includes cement producers, we recommend that the Commission prioritizes the fossil fuel producers (coal, oil, and gas) in its investigation of the Carbon Majors’ responsibility for climate change because the greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels is the main cause of climate change. Throughout the rest of this Petition, the term ‘Carbon Majors’ will refer solely to the existing investor-owned Carbon Majors producers listed in Table 1. The Petitioners have chosen to focus on the carbon producers, the Carbon Majors, rather than emitters, because there are just a few dozen producers, including companies putting fossil fuels on the market, that are largely responsible for and profiting the most from climate change, while taking very little, if any, action on climate change. As will be further explained in the discussion section, these producers are largely unregulated in terms of carbon emissions from their products. Also, there are examples of fossil fuel companies, either directly or through trade associations, actively preventing action on climate change and renewable energy solutions by undermining the science and running campaigns aimed to confuse the public, appended as Annex “E.” 2. Climate Change Impacts The Climate Change Act defines climate change as, “a change in climate that can be identified by changes in the mean and/or variability of its properties and that persists for an extended period typically decades or longer, whether due to natural variability or as a result of human activity.”41 Figure 1 depicts both the natural greenhouse effect and human enhanced greenhouse effect. It is a widely accepted fact that “human influence on the climate system is                                                                                                                         38 Methods & Results Report, supra note 7, at 29. Id. 40 Id. 41 An Act Establishing the People’s Survival Fund to Provide Long-term Finance Streams to Enable the Government to Effectively Address the Problem of Climate Change, Amending for the Purpose Republic Act No. 9729, Otherwise Known as “Climate Change Act” and for Other Purposes, Republic Act No. 10174, § 3, ¶ d (2011). 39             13