4 of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and that is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods.”4 A peer-reviewed study has clearly established that respondent Carbon Majors have significantly contributed to cumulative worldwide emissions of industrial CO2 and methane, mainly through the production of fossil fuels.5 When used as directed, the carbon emissions from the respondents’ products cause climate change and result in harms that have a disproportionate impact on vulnerable countries, communities, and people. Likewise, it has been authoritatively proven that the exercise and full enjoyment of the human rights of the Filipinos are affected due to the impacts of climate change. In a recent paper, US scientist Kevin Trenberth said: “The climate is changing: we have a new normal. The environment in which all weather events occur is not what it used to be. All storms, without exception, are different. Even if most of them look just like the ones we used to have, they are not the same.”6 According to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), “[c]limate change is happening now. Evidence being seen support the fact that the change cannot simply be explained by natural variation.”7 While extreme weather events do not have a single cause, there are various contributing factors. Human-induced climate change is one of those factors. The warming caused by carbon dioxide is increasing the probability and intensity of extreme weather events. In practical terms for the petitioners, climate change-fuelled extreme weather events may mean “rice and corn farms, as far as the eye can see, are flattened,”8 as it occurred during super typhoon Lawin (Haima) in Isabela and Cagayan provinces, only days after the strong typhoon Karen (category 4 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 09 May 1992, 1771 U.N.T.S. 107 (entered into force on 21 March 1994), Art. 1(2). 5 Heede, R. (2014). Tracing anthropogenic CO2 and methane emissions to fossil fuel and cement producers, 1854-2010, Climatic Change, January 2014, vol. 122(1): 229-241; http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-013-0986-y?view=classic, last accessed on 08 February 2017. 6 Trenberth, K., Fasullo, J., and Shepherd, T. (2015). Attribution of climate extreme events. Nature Climate Change 5, pp. 725–730, doi:10.1038/nclimate2657. See also, Trenberth, K., Amicus Curiae Declaration dated 07 November 2016, on file with the Honorable Commission. 7 Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA). Climate Change in the Philippines, available at http://pagasa.dost.gov.ph/index.php/climate-change-in-thephilippines#introduction, last accessed on 06 February 2017. 8 The Guardian, Super typhoon Haima causes widespread destruction in Philippines, available at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/19/philippines-high-alert-super-typhoon-haima-hits-country, last accessed on 06 February 2017.