Memorandum for the Petitioners 1119
There is clear link between respondent
Carbon Majors’ climate pollution and the
impacts occurring globally and in the
Philippines
8.137. There is a clear link between the concentrations of GHGs in the
atmosphere and the median surface global temperatures, as well as ocean
acidification.564 There is also clear link between respondent Carbon Majors
climate pollution and global impacts, such as surface temperature and sealevel rise, which in turn is resulting loss and damage in the Philippines.565
Scientists seek to establish a high-level of certainty, at least 90% certainty, a
standard much higher than the “ balance of probabilities” test used for civil
matters in most jurisdictions (See Part V [C to C. l ]).566
r
r
8 . 138 . As mentioned above, it is possible to identify and quantify
the contributions to global temperature change and sea-level rise to
emissions generated by products produced and marketed by specific
major investor-owned companies
such as respondents herein providing a potential framework for the apportionment of responsibility
for climate-related harm .”567
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8.139. Dr. Ekwurzel answered the Honorable Commission’s question
on how to use scientific evidence to show the causality between the Carbon
Majors’ climate pollution and climate impacts globally and in the Philippines.
In her answer, Dr. Ekwurzel explained that the scientific study 568 she co
authored helps to establish a clear link between the respondents’ emissions,
based on the Carbon Majors data , and the climate impacts through wellestablished climate models used by the IPCC . By running the model, this
enabled them to see “how much cooler the surface temperature earth would
have been in 2010, see how much lower the seas would have been” without
the emissions from the specific companies. This process makes it possible to
attribute to specific companies an amount of change in temperature and sealevel rise.569
8.140. As shown, the proportional increase in atmospheric carbon
dioxide, GMST and GSL rise key climate impacts - can be traced to the
emissions of the major carbon producers. The contribution of the
—
564
Ibid.; See also The IPCC AR 5 notes that the cumulative total emissions of C02 and global mean surface
temperature response are approximately linearly related ”, IPCC, WGII, AR 5 Chapter 30: The Ocean ,
supra note 309.
565
Id
566
See Exhibit FFFFFF” to “FFFFFF-34, Marjanac, S. and Patton, L (2018), “ Extreme Weather Event
Attribution Science and Climate Change Litigation: An Essential Step in the Causal Chain?” Journal of
Energy & Natural Resources Law, p. 273.
567
Exhibit “PPPPPPPP” to “PPPPPPPP 2,” supra note 132, at p.3.
568
Testimony of Dr. Brenda Ekwurzel, TSN 27 28 dated September 2018, p. 34, available at
http://chr.gov.ph/ wp-content/uploads/2019/04/NICC TSN-September-27-to 28 New York United States.pdf ( last accessed on 12 September 2019).
569 Id
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