likelihood of severe, pervasive, and irreversible impacts for people and
ecosystems.��9
The Carbon Majors should be held accountable for violations or
threats of violations of Filipinos’ rights (a) to life; (b) to the highest
attainable standard of physical and mental health; (c) to food; (d) to water;
(e) to sanitation; (f) to adequate housing; and (g) to self-determination
resulting from the adverse impacts of climate change. Special attention
should be paid to marginalized and disadvantaged people and communities
particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, including women,
children, persons with disabilities, those living in extreme poverty,
indigenous peoples, and displaced persons; as well as the right of Filipinos
to development. The workers and workers’ organizations among the
Petitioners also seek accountability for the human rights implications of
climate change on the workers’ health, labour productivity, work
environment and safety, and job protection.10 One potential way to
determine the level of responsibility of an individual Carbon Major is by
identifying the company’s share in the estimated global industrial emissions
of carbon, and when it is supposed to have allegedly acquired knowledge of
its products’ harmful effects, including the impacts on the climate,
ecological balance, and people’s health, or was informed of those impacts.11
Hindi po makatarungan na magbilang na lamang kami, o mapabilang
sa susunod na statistics, ng mga biktima ng climate change.12 This Petition
seeks vindication of Filipinos’ rights through a comprehensive investigation
into the responsibility of the Carbon Majors for violations or threats of
violations of human rights resulting from the impacts of climate change.
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9
IPCC, 2014: Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the
Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Core Writing Team, R.K.
Pachauri and L.A. Meyer (eds.)]. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland, pp. 151, Summary for Policymakers, at 8.
10
For more information on climate action as a trade union concern, see, ITUC Frontlines Briefing, Climate
Justice: There are No Jobs on a Dead Planet, Mar. 2015, http://www.ituc-csi.org/ituc-frontlines-briefingclimate?lang=en (last accessed on Sept. 15, 2015).
11
A recent peer-reviewed article concluded that “major investor-owned fossil energy companies carry
significant responsibility for climate change.” P. Frumhoff, R. Heede, & N. Oreskes, The Climate
Responsibilities of Industrial Carbon Producers, CLIMATIC CHANGE, 132 Climatic Change 157 (2015).
Available at http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10584-015-1472-5.
12
English translation: It is unjust that we end up simply counting the victims or becoming victims ourselves
of climate change.
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