7 common law tort and the emergence of corporate responsibility in international human rights law. Part 2 presents an overview of key pieces of scientific research studies that provide evidence currently available concerning what the fossil fuel industry knew and what actions were taken in light of, their products' contribution to climate change. Q17: Based on Part 1, could you please summarize what are the fundamental elements of corporate responsibility under tort, civil liability, and human rights law? A17: Under traditional legal norms, standards and jurisprudence defining civil liability (as opposed to criminal liability), whether a harmed party can seek a remedy is dependent, in part, on the links between identifiable plaintiff, an identifiable defendant and a causal chain that connects the harms suffered to the actions or inactions of the parties. Under common law tort, there are theories of strict liability where a defendant is liable for harms regardless of the conduct by the plaintiff. Alternatively, for example, under a theory of comparative negligence, a defendant is only liable for a percentage of fault. These common law theories are not exhaustive but are only selected to show how legal authorities can allocate responsibility and determine liability among the participants for the conduct at issue and for purposes of compensating harm. Allocating responsibility, particularly among corporate actors for human rights violations, is a matter of evolving jurisprudence that balances considerations of statutory mandate, fairness, moral and ethical obligations among other considerations. Principles of corporate responsibility therefore reflect the evolution of jurisprudence concerning responsibility or ‘non-contractual obligations’ in civil law jurisdictions, civil liability approaches to responsibility under common law tort, widely accepted principles of legal responsibility that are fundamental to international human rights law, and an emerging body of jurisprudence that has clarified that corporations are among the private actors that have responsibilities to comply with international human rights law. In 2011, the UN Special Rapporteur on Business & Human Rights John Ruggie addressed the human rights responsibilities of corporations in his report Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). These UNGPs have been endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council as the foundation for assessing corporate responsibilities to uphold human rights and avoid complicity in human rights violations. When discussing corporate responsibility in the human rights context, legal experts adopt a civil liability approach that weighs the fundamental elements of corporate responsibility that include (1) a causal link between the actor