Majors have been on notice of the significant climate risks associated with their products for
many decades. Should the Commission so conclude, it may then reasonably consider whether the
Carbon Majors acted appropriately in light of their state of knowledge:
What steps did the respondent companies take to make people aware of the
dangers?
What steps did they take and could they have taken to reduce the risks of their
products?
What steps did they take to advance or obstruct appropriate technical, process, or
policy solutions?
What steps have they taken to prevent violations of the rights of the people of the
Philippines?
Of particular relevance in this regard are those cases highlighting the importance of
adequate information in allowing the public to identify, assess, and respond to risks. 336 In light of
significant evidence in the Petition and amicus curiae briefs that some Carbon Majors have
supported the deliberate dissemination of misinformation regarding the existence, causes, and
severity of climate risks, legitimate and significant questions exist with respect to the respondent
companies’ failure to warn the public of the risks inherent in the production, sale, and use of
their fossil fuel products.
By no later than the 1980s, at least two of the Carbon Majors - Exxon and Shell - were
taking the risk of climate change so seriously that they were incorporating climate change into
their business operations. In 1986, an Exxon subsidiary sent a team of researchers to “determine
how global warming could affect Exxon’s Arctic operations and its bottom line.” 337 In 1991, the
leader of that expedition reported that “[c]ertainly any major development with a life span of say
30-40 years will need to assess the impacts of potential global warming,” and that “[t]his is
particularly true of Arctic and offshore projects in Canada, where warming will clearly affect sea
ice, icebergs, permafrost, and sea levels.” 338 Similarly, in 1989, Shell Oil announced that it was
redesigning a $3 billion natural gas platform, raising its height one to two meters to account for
rising sea levels as a result of global warming. 339
As detailed in the Petition, and in the Annex to CIEL’s initial brief, however, the Carbon
Majors companies failed for decades to adequately warn consumers, investors, and others
336
Öneryıldız v. Turkey [GC], App. no. 48939/99, Eur. Ct. H. R., at § 71 (2004) (stating in ¶¶ 90, 108 that “Among
these preventive measures, particular emphasis should be placed on the public’s right to information, as established
in the case-law of the Convention institutions …
… The Court will next assess the weight to be attached to the issue of respect for the public’s right to information ...
It observes in this connection that the Government have not shown that any measures were taken in the instant case
to provide the inhabitants of the Ümraniye slums with information enabling them to assess the risks they might run
as a result of the choices they had made. In any event, the Court considers that in the absence of more practical
measures to avoid the risks to the lives of the inhabitants of the Ümraniye slums, even the fact of having respected
the right to information would not have been sufficient to absolve the State of its responsibilities.”); see also Plan B
brief, at § 6.1.2.
337
CIEL brief, Annex, at p. 12.
338
Id.
339
Id.
70
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