Amicus Curiae Brief presented by
ClientEarth
21 November 2016
infringed and are infringing human rights through the continued emission of
greenhouse gasses. The Commission may also find the Guidebook for National
Human Rights Institutions issued by the International Co-ordinating Committee of
National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights useful in
interpreting and applying the Guiding Principles.72 Below are some additional matters
the Commission may find relevant to its determination of the contribution of the
Carbon Majors to global climate change.
7.1 Corporate personhood
94. The Petition names 51 corporate groups respondents in Annex C to the Petition. This
list has been updated and is slightly different to that identified in the study
undertaken by Richard Heede contained in the various documents in Annexes D, D1,
D2 and D3 to the Petition.73
95. Although Annex C to the Petition does not specify the specific corporate entities
implicated by the claims in the Petition, it is clear that the intention of the Petitioners
is to refer to the corporate group as a whole.
96. The Commission should accept that a reference in the Petition to the Carbon Majors
or a particular corporate group should be taken as a reference to the parent entity or
entities74 in whose name the accounts of the group are consolidated in accordance
with the rules of the jurisdiction in which the parent is incorporated or listed for
trading on a stock exchange.
72
See note 6 at p 6.
In Table 14 in Heede, Carbon Majors: Accounting for carbon and methane emissions 1854-2010 Methods and Results Report, 2014, Annex D2.
74
Such as in the case of Rio Tinto, registered in both the UK and Australia.
73
46
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