Philippines: Company responses to Commission on Human Rights petition fail to address fossil fuel companies' responsibility for climate change impacts on human rights
"Carbon majors respond to climate and human rights inquiry," 27 Oct 2016
Have fossil fuel companies abused human rights by causing climate change? That is the charge the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines put to 47 coal, oil and gas majors…based on a petition by Greenpeace and other NGOs…Nine submissions voluntarily shared with…Business & Human Rights Resource Centre give a flavour of the industry arguments…Rio Tinto urged cooperation…Anglo American and Conoco Phillips simply rejected the Commission’s jurisdiction…Eni talked up its 100% score for disclosure of climate risk on the 2015 CDP leaderboard…Glencore went on the counterattack, arguing that everyone had a right to energy…BHP Billiton acknowledged that climate change potentially brought human rights impacts…But it added the petitioners were asking the Commission to go beyond its powers when it came to…demanding remedies…Zelda Soriano, legal adviser to Greenpeace Southeast Asia, told Climate Home…“…all the responses fail to address…the responsibility of fossil fuel companies for the disastrous consequences climate change has on the lives and livelihoods of Filipinos,”…The Commission is expected to hold public hearings and gather more evidence before publishing its conclusions.
[Also refers to BP, Freeport-McMoRan, and Peabody Energy.]