56
Honorable Commission -- such as extrajudicial killings, displacement, and
reproductive health -- the climate crisis is a human rights crisis of “domestic
and/or international implication/importance.”227
The petitioners will
continue to treat this proceeding, which is of great public interest in the
Philippines and globally, as a transparent and inclusive process, and
encourage the respondents to do the same.
D.
There is inadequate information of
whether respondents’ business models are
aligned with the Paris Agreement.
3.9. The submissions to the BHRRC give the impression that many
of respondents intend to take action to address climate change. Some have
“committed to a safe and stable climate in which temperature rise is limited
to under 2 degrees Celsius”228 in the Paris Pledge for Action. This raises
two important issues for the Honorable Commission’s consideration.
3.10. First, the companies must show that their activities and plans
match their stated positions. There is evidence that, if unchecked, the fossil
fuel producers’ plans could contribute to overshooting the “politicallyagreed”229 temperature goals of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C2°C, as set out in the Paris Climate Agreement.230
3.11. Second, the petitioners are aware that major fossil fuel
companies have known about the risks of climate change for decades, yet
have continued a business-as-usual approach of extracting more and more
fossil fuels to be sold and burned. Some even developed, or participated in,
campaigns to deliberately sow confusion about climate science and block
action to address climate change.231
227
Sections 3, Rule 7 of the Omnibus Rules of the Commission.
Paris Pledge for Action, available at http://parispledgeforaction.org/, last accessed on 08 February 2017.
A number of the respondents joined the pledge (see http://parispledgeforaction.org/whos-joined/, last
accessed on 06 February 2017). See also UNFCCC, Global Climate Action, available at
http://climateaction.unfccc.int/, last accessed on 08 February 2016 (captures the commitments to climate
action by companies, cities, subnational, regions, investors, and civil society organizations).
229
“Politically-agreed” means that the temperature goals of 1.5 °C/ 2 °C that were agreed by state parties
but not necessarily based on the best-available science. See Our Children’s Trust’s amicus submission
dated 06 December 2016.
230
See McGlade, C. and Ekins, P., The geographical distribution of fossil fuels unused when limiting
global warming to 2 °C, Nature, 08 January 2015, available at
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v517/n7533/full/nature14016.html, last accessed on 06 February
2017. [“Our results suggest that, globally, a third of oil reserves, half of gas reserves and over 80 per cent
of current coal reserves should remain unused from 2010 to 2050 in order to meet the target of 2 °C. We
show that development of resources in the Arctic and any increase in unconventional oil production are
incommensurate with efforts to limit average global warming to 2 °C.”]
231
Union of Concerned Scientists (July 2015). The Climate Change Dossiers, available at
http://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/07/The-Climate-Deception-Dossiers.pdf, last accessed
on 06 February 2017; Annex “B” opinion by the Center for International Environmental Law; Annex “E”
to the Petition.
228
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents