Memorandum for the Petitioners | 28
intergovernmental organization. The IPCC’s findings serve
as a starting point for the COP decisions, which are taken by
the signatories to the UN Climate Change Convention during
their climate conferences.
Similarly, the Dutch and
European
decision-making
processes
pertaining
to
the
climate policies to be pursued are also based on the climate
science findings of the IPCC.
The court — and also the
Parties — therefore considers these findings as facts.*2
5.11. Notably, respondent Chevron, through one of its lawyers, Avi
Garbow, appears to have admitted that IPCC findings are facts in an article
about climate lawsuits:
“Chevron is not going to be engaging in a debate
on climate change science,” said Avi Garbow, co-chairman
of the Environmental Litigation and Mass Tort Practice
Group at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and a Chevron
lawyer.
He’s
administration
also
who
a
former
defended
the
official
Clean
in
the
Power
Obama
Plan
general counsel to then-U.S. EPA chief Gina McCarthy.
as
The company will “anchor its presentation” on
the
Fifth
Assessment
Report
from
the
U.N.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC),
issued in 2014, he said on a call with reporters Monday.
“Chevron’s
neither going
understate degrees of confidence.
going to present the conclusions of
Chevron thinks that’s the best and the
of responding to the court’s tutorial
said.
counties
San
in
Francisco
California,
and
are
Oakland,
suing
to overstate nor
Chevron’s simply
the IPCC because
most accurate way
request,” Garbow
along
Chevron,
with
BP
several
PLC,
ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell
PLC for allegedly downplaying the threat of climate change.
The local governments claim that the oil majors knew years
ago that the emissions related to their products could cause
sea-level rise and contribute to other damages.*} (Emphasis
supplied)
5.12. The IPCC issues comprehensive Assessment Reports about
knowledge on climate change, its causes, potential impacts and response
options, the latest one being the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (“IPCC
ARS”) and the next one being the Sixth Assessment Report (IPCC AR6”).
82 Ibid.
* Mulkern, A. (21 March 2018), Chevron Will Stick to IPCC Findings in Landmark Climate Change Trial,
available at https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/chevron-will-stick-to-ipcc-findings-in-landmarkclimate-change-trial/ (last accessed on 12 September 2019).
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