Corporate responsibility for climate change

The world’s first ever national inquiry into the the fossil fuel industry’s responsibility for human rights impacts caused by climate change will hit an important milestone in the Philippines today (11 December) – one day after Human Rights Day (10 December).

Companies, including ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Suncor and Repsol, are being asked to explain their role in making climate change worse.

Profits harming people and planet

The investigating body, the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines, sent notices in October requesting the companies to attend the 11 December meeting. They were asked to discuss and agree on how the investigation will be conducted, and submit evidence and witnesses.

The investigation will intensify in 2018 and has the potential to shift global understanding of corporate responsibility for climate change.

‘Many homes were destroyed during typhoon Yolanda and people died – including some I knew’, said Isagani Serrano, a petitioner and president of the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM), an organisation that provides support in the aftermath of disasters. ‘We hope CEOs of these companies look deep within their hearts and see how their profit harms people and the planet.’

Respecting human rights

Filipino typhoon survivors, other communities suffering the impacts of climate change and civil society organisations, including Greenpeace Southeast Asia (Philippines), petitioned the commission for the investigation in 2015, two years after super-typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) claimed the lives of more than 6,300 people and affected millions of others who have yet to recover.