The U.S. office of the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW), which advises a
global network of public-interest lawyers, has been researching climate justice issues for
years. We submit the following materials to the Commission in the hope that this
information may assist you in your investigation.
I. The Petition
In May of this year, Greenpeace Southeast Asia and others petitioned the Commission
requesting an investigation into the human rights implications of climate change and
ocean acidification, and the role of forty-seven named companies in possible violations of
Filipinos’ human rights.
This Commission decided to open an investigation. On 21 July 2016, Commissioner
Cadiz signed an Order giving the forty-seven companies named in the petition (the
Respondents) forty-five days to submit Comments or Answers.
II. Respondents’ Comments and Answers
The Business & Human Rights Resource Center invited Respondents to share their
responses to the Commission publicly by submitting the responses for publication on the
Center’s website (https://business-humanrights.org/). To date, the Center has published
nine comments from Respondents. The comments can be found at: https://businesshumanrights.org/en/fossil-fuel-cos-respond-to-petition-with-philippines-human-rightscommission-on-human-rights-climate-change-impacts.
The most encouraging response comes from BHP Billiton. We applaud BHP Billiton for
clearly and publicly stating:
BHP Billiton recognises that climate change is one of the most important global
challenges that this generation faces and there is no simple solution. For hundreds
of years, hydrocarbons such as coal, oil and gas, have played a critical role in
providing the energy and resources required to support the demands of growing
populations and deliver global economic and social development, with an
accompanying significant increase in anthropogenic GHG emissions.
And also:
BHP Billiton accepts the assessment of climate change science by the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which has found that
warming of the climate is unequivocal, the human influence is clear and physical
impacts are unavoidable. The IPCC states that addressing climate change will
require substantial and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. To
achieve this, there must be collective action across government, business and
society.
2