9 CO2 emissions--in the causal chain for climate harms. By producing fossil fuels and putting them into the stream of commerce, the Carbon Majors played an indispensable role in the causation of anthropogenic global warming. But for the production and marketing of fossil fuels, the majority of anthropogenic carbon dioxide and methane from industrial sources would not have been emitted into the atmosphere. Accordingly, Heede’s research provides a coherent, methodologically sound means for identifying a discrete, identifiable group of potential responsible parties whose contributions to the climate crisis are quantifiable and significant both at the global scale and on a historical basis. As noted in the preceding response, moreover, subsequent research has demonstrated how specific proportions of carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere, the increase in average global surface temperatures, and increases in sea level can be traced to individual Carbon Majors, allowing for greater precision in quantifying and allocating responsibility for the climate harms arising the Carbon Majors’ products and operations. Q15: Based on your legal research, when can a company be held accountable for human rights harms? A15: As noted in my previous testimony to the Commission, the foundations for corporate accountability for human rights violations are similar to the principles of responsibility under the laws of tort and non-contractual civil liability. A company can be properly held accountability for violations of human rights when the company’s conduct contributes to such violations; the company was aware or should have been aware of the risks associated with its operations; and, notwithstanding this awareness, failed to take measures to avoid or ameliorate the risk. The International Commission of Jurists distilled these common elements into a series of questions: • Was harm inflicted to an interest of the victim that is protected by law? • Did the company’s conduct contribute to the infliction of the harm? • Did the company know or would a prudent company in the same circumstances have known that its conduct posed a risk of harm to the victim? •Considering this risk, did the company take the precautionary measures a prudent company would have taken in order to prevent the risk from materializing?11 The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights apply a similar framework. Significantly, the Guiding Principles recognize that corporations have an affirmative obligation to investigate and monitor the 11 INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION OF JURISTS, 3 CORPORATE COMPLICITY & LEGAL ACCOUNTABILITY: CIVIL REMEDIES 7 (2008), available at http://www.icj.org/wpcontent/uploads/2009/07/Corporate-complicity-legal-accountability-vol3-publication-2009eng.pdf.