SUMMARY OF AMICI EXPERT CONTRIBUTIONS REGARDING RESPONSIBILITY/ACCOUNTABILITY OF COMPANIES 287 Key Findings and Messages ● Corporations have the responsibility to respect human rights, as described in the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). 288 ● The UNGPs require enterprises to assess, address, and take responsibility for the climaterelated human rights impacts of their products and operations. ● Consistent with this obligation, corporations have a duty to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions: ○ at a minimum, in line with the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement (ClientEarth); and/or ○ to a level that avoids or minimizes dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system as evidenced by the best available science (CIEL, Hansen). ● The Commission should take a purposive and holistic approach to applying human rights standards in its investigation. ● In assessing the Carbon Majors’ responsibility for the impacts of climate change on the people of the Philippines, the Commission should take into account fundamental principles of legal and moral responsibility, including respondents’ knowledge or notice of potential harms, including whether it was reasonably foreseeable, the opportunity to avoid or reduce those harms, and whether the harm was caused by their actions. ● The Carbon Majors have long known that the production and use of their products contribute substantially to climate change, which continues to have significant impacts and adverse consequences for people, especially vulnerable populations. ● The Carbon Majors knowingly advanced or promoted deliberately misleading information, casting doubt on the connection between fossil fuels and climate change. ● The “Polluter Pays” Principle289 is widely accepted and should be applied to the Carbon Majors who reap vast profits from their polluting activities. Summary Argument The submissions of the amici experts examine three separate and interwoven foundations for the Commission’s inquiry into the responsibility and accountability of the Carbon Major companies with respect to human rights impacts in the Philippines. These foundations include the UNGPs; fundamental principles of legal responsibility as reflected in the law of human rights, tort, and civil responsibility; and the polluter pays principle. A summary of these 287 This summary was compiled with inputs by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) (Steven Feit, Erika Lennon & Carroll Muffett), Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions & the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (APF & GANHRI) (Ioana Cismas), ClientEarth (Sophie Marjanac), and Plan B (Tim Crosland) and is based on their previously submitted amicus curiae briefs as well as relevant updates. 288 See generally UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, supra note 237, at ¶ 11 (stating “Business enterprises should respect human rights. This means that they should avoid infringing on the human rights of others and should address adverse human rights impacts with which they are involved.”). 289 See Plan B brief, at § 6.3; see also Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, supra note 243, principle 16; U.N. Conference on the Human Environment, Stockholm Declaration, principle 22, 11 I.L.M. 1416 (1972). 59