Groups seek CHR resolution on world's first climate change, human rights inquiry
MANILA, Philippines — Environmental and human rights groups called on the Commission on Human Rights to expedite the issuance of the resolution to the world's first investigation into corporate responsibility for the climate crisis.
In a statement released on Earth Day, April 22, the organizations said the resolution can aid the crafting of a clear people-centered recovery plan as the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted issues that have long been driven by climate change such as food insecurity, health risks and dwindling livelihoods.
The petitioners also said the findings of the CHR are expected to provide an unprecedented basis for future climate justice litigation and policymaking needed to keep global temperatures below 1.5 °C
The inquiry, which took place from 2015 to 2018, looks into the responsibility of fossil fuel companies for human rights impacts emerging from business practices that aggravate climate change. It is said to be the first of its kind in the world.
“An immediate and strong resolution from the CHR on the climate and human rights petition would provide a strong rallying point to protect humanity from further climate-destructive activities by entities that put profit over people and the planet. This will be the Filipino people’s legacy to the rest of the world,” Greenpeace Southeast Asia Executive Director Yeb Saño said.
“We want the CHR to release the resolution because it will give us some relief from the impacts of the climate crisis. It is high time we show the world that communities and people are rising up from the big polluters that are responsible for the climate emergency we face,” Beckie Malay of the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement said.
In September 2015, typhoon survivors and civil society groups filed a complaint before the CHR, calling for probe into the possible human rights violations of 47 biggest fossil fuel and cement companies called “carbon majors” resulting from climate change.
The commission carried out public hearings in Manila, New York and London as part of its investigations.
Under the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, global warming must be limited well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels while pursuing efforts for a tougher ceiling of 1.5°C.
According to a special report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global carbon dioxide emissions must be halved by 2030 before falling to net zero by mid-century at the latest.
“We have only nine years left to take action,” Erwin Puhawan of the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice said.
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