CHR urged to issue resolution on climate inquiry after landmark Dutch ruling
MANILA, Philippines — Environmental and human rights groups urged the Commission on Human Rights to release its long-awaited resolution on the investigation into corporate responsibility for the climate crisis after a Dutch court ordered an oil giant to slash its greenhouse gas emissions.
Groups such as Greenpeace Philippines, Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement and PhilRights hailed the landmark ruling of the district court in The Hague, Netherlands that declared that Shell is “contributing to the dire consequences of climate change for the population” and must reduce its carbon emissions by 45% by 2030.
They said the decision is a “huge win for Filipinos and other climate-impacted communities around the world.”
So the CHR should take this as a cue to release its resolution on the inquiry that looked into the responsibility of fossil fuel companies for human rights impacts aggravated by climate change, the organizations stressed. The investigation is said to be the first of its kind in the world.
“This is legal recognition that Shell and other carbon majors’ business model of continued extraction, production and burning of fossil fuels—and their denial of climate science—is costing us lives and livelihoods, and impinges on our most basic rights and dignities as human beings,” Greenpeace campaigner Virginia Benosa-Llorin said.
“Following this ruling, we hope to see the immediate release of the resolution to the CHR climate inquiry, which we believe will be another historic precedent that will help end reliance on fossil fuels,” she added.
In 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 resulting from climate change.
The inquiry took place from 2015 to 2018, with public hearings conducted in Manila, New York and London as part of the commission’s investigations.
“At a time when our people are already experiencing the escalating impacts of climate change, further and inaction and delay on the part of the CHR effectively translate to condoning the human rights violations being committed on millions of Filipino by the fossil fuel industy,” said Von Hernandez, global coordinator of Break Free From Plastic.
“We have waited long enough for the case to be resolved in favor of the Filipino people who are bearing the brunt of climate impacts on their lives and human rights,” said Aileen Lucero, national coordinator of EcoWaste Coalition.
In a statement sent to Philstar.com, the Office of CHR Commissioner Roberto Cadiz said the commission is “working hard to ensure that all relevant issues are covered therein, thus the need for utmost care in its preparation.”
“The CHR is committed to releasing a report that is fair, accurate, complete, and nuanced; and that all parties involved will be properly informed of its release,” it added.
Under the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, global warming must be limited well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels while pursuing efforts for a tougher ceiling of 1.5 degrees.
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