47
companies fail to respect human rights as set out in the Guiding
Principles.”191 The instant Petition is case in point.
2.118. Fourth, respondent Carbon Majors are not fulfilling their
responsibility to respect human rights through the extraction, production,
and sale of products that, when used as directed, result in significant
amounts of climate change-causing greenhouse gas emissions. They are also
failing to act with due diligence in light of the known risks posed by climate
change.192 Also, some of the respondents may be acting in contravention to
their responsibilities by having, either directly or indirectly, intentionally
undermined climate science and national and international actions on climate
change.193
Please see Annex “B” for an opinion by the Center for International
Environmental Law (“CIEL”) explaining how newly acquired documents
demonstrate that the oil industry was engaged in conduct contrary to
international norms and standards the responsibility of business enterprises
to respect and protect human rights. The national public inquiry presents an
opportunity for the respondents to fulfill their responsibility to exercise due
diligence and begin to assess the full extent of the human rights threats and
harms being experienced by the petitioners.
2.119. By challenging the Honorable Commission’s authority to
investigate or by not responding to the Commission’s Order, respondents are
interfering with the petitioners’ legal right to access justice.194 The national
public inquiry presents an opportunity for the respondents to fulfill their
responsibility to exercise due diligence and begin to assess the full extent of
the human rights harms being experienced by petitioners.
E.1. The respondents have contributed to human
rights impacts resulting from climate change.
191
supra., note 190.
The amicus submission by Professor Seck discusses due diligence and human rights impacts
assessments: “In light of existing knowledge about fossil fuels and climate change, a business as usual
approach appears entirely inconsistent with the identification and prevention of human rights impacts
following an effective due diligence process as contemplated by the UN Guiding Principles.” Seck, S.,
amicus submission, op cit., p. 6. The amicus submission by Plan B proposes that “the appropriate questions
for determining the responsibility of the carbon majors (on the basis that the carbon majors have
obligations to respect the right to life) are as follows: (a) Were the carbon majors aware of the risks to life
(and other rights caused by their activities)?; (b) If so, did they take reasonable steps to prevent those risks
occurring?; and (c) Have their acts and / or omissions materially contributed to violations of the right of the
Petitioners?” Crosland, T., Plan B’s amicus curiae brief, p. 27, available at https://businesshumanrights.org/en/amicus-briefs, last accessed on 08 February 2017.
193
See Annex “E” to the Petition (Publications on Fossil Fuel Industry Involvement in Undermining
Climate Science and Action), available at http://www.greenpeace.org/seasia/ph/press/releases/Worldslargest-carbon-producers-ordered-to-respond-to-allegations-of-human-rights--abuses-from-climatechange/The-Climate-Change-and-Human-Rights-Petition/, last accessed on 06 February 2017.
194
See Understanding Human Rights and Climate Change, Submission of the Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights to the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (2015), p. 3, available at
http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/ClimateChange/COP21.pdf, last accessed on 06 February 2017.
192
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