NGOs, Chevron funds the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC);72 and ALEC has
expressed uncertainty about human influence on the climate.73 A list of publications providing
background on the involvement of fossil fuel industry, either directly or indirectly, in
undermining action on climate change and in climate denial efforts is contained in Annex “E.”
The Petitioners believe that those who are largely responsible for and profit generously from the
problem, and yet are underming solutions, should be held accountable, in accordance with the
polluter pays principle and intergenerational equity.74
3. The investor-owned Carbon Majors have also breached their responsibilities to respect
the rights of Filipino people and communities by failing to prevent human rights impacts
that are directly linked to their operations, products, or services by its business
relationships.
As part of their corporate responsibility to respect human rights, the Carbon Majors are
required to exercise due diligence in their business activities or relationships. Guiding Principle
17 explains that businesses should “identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address
their adverse human rights impacts” by carrying out human rights due diligence.75 The human
rights due diligence process includes the following elements:
•
•
•
•
Assessing actual and potential impacts of business activities on
human rights;
Acting on the findings of this assessment, including by
integrating appropriate measures to address impacts into
company policies and practices;
Tracking how effective the measures taken are in preventing or
mitigating adverse human rights impacts; and
Communicating to the outside world about the due diligence
process and results.76
The scope of due diligence includes “adverse human rights impacts that the business enterprise
may cause or contribute to through its own activities, or which may be directly linked to its
sources of their funding in scientific publications or in testimony to legislators.” Ed Markey, US Senator for
Massachusetts, Press Release, Markey, Boxer, Whitehouse Query Fossil Fuel Companies, Climate Denial
Organizations on Science Funding,Feb. 25, 2015, http://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/markey-boxerwhitehouse-query-fossil-fuel-companies-climate-denial-organizations-on-science-funding (last accessed on Sept. 18,
2015).
72
Center for Media and Democracy, et al., ALEC’s Climate Change Denial, http://alecclimatechangedenial.org. For
information on ALEC’s Funders, including Chevron, see http://alecclimatechangedenial.org/corporate-funders (last
accessed August 6, 2015).
73
American Legislative Council, Interstate Research Commission on Climate Change Act, section 2,
http://www.alec.org/model-legislation/interstate-research-commission-on-climatic-change-act/ (last accessed August
6, 2015).
74
United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, Rio Declaration, Fifth Session, April 25, 1997 at
principle 16.
75
Id. at principle 17, page 31.
76
International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions and Danish Institute for Human
Rights, Business and Human Rights: A Guidebook for National Human Rights Institutions (2013), at 40. Available
at http://www.humanrights.dk/files/media/dokumenter/udgivelser/bhr_guidebook_for_nhris_2013_eng.pdf.
21
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents