Joint Summary of the Amicus Curiae Briefs submitted in support of Petitioners, Greenpeace Southeast Asia et al.

The document argues that the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines has the jurisdiction to investigate the 'Carbon Majors'—major fossil fuel companies—for their role in driving climate change and subsequent human rights violations. It asserts that these companies knew of the climate risks associated with their products for decades but promoted misinformation. The briefs argue that climate change threatens fundamental rights in the Philippines, including the rights to life, health, food, and water, and that these companies should be held accountable under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the 'Polluter Pays' principle.

• The Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines has the legal mandate and jurisdiction to investigate human rights violations caused by companies headquartered outside the Philippines, based on the 'effects doctrine' and the 'protective principle' which establish a nexus between the conduct and the harm felt within the Philippines.
• Climate change poses an immediate and severe threat to fundamental human rights in the Philippines, specifically impacting the rights to life, health, clean water and sanitation, food, adequate housing, self-determination, and equality and non-discrimination.
• Vulnerable populations in the Philippines, including farmers, fishermen, children, and future generations, are disproportionately affected by climate change due to their high dependence on natural resources and limited capacity to adapt.
• Scientific evidence indicates that the 'Carbon Majors' have materially contributed to global warming; specifically, 90 Carbon Major groups are linked to 63% of estimated global industrial CO2 and methane emissions between 1751 and 2010.
• Carbon Major companies had internal knowledge of the risks of climate change as early as the 1950s and 1960s, yet they spent decades promoting misleading information to undermine public confidence in climate science.
• Under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), corporations have a responsibility to respect human rights, which includes assessing and addressing the climate-related impacts of their products and operations.
• The 'Polluter Pays' principle should be applied to Carbon Majors, as they have reaped vast profits from polluting activities while displacing the social and environmental costs onto vulnerable populations.
• To protect human rights and the public trust, the atmospheric concentration of CO2 must be reduced to below 350 ppm by 2100, which is a more stringent standard than the targets set in the Paris Agreement.
• States have a positive obligation under international law to protect their citizens from human rights abuses caused by private actors, including the duty to provide effective remedies and investigations into loss of life.

APA

ClientEarth (2018). Joint Summary of the Amicus Curiae Briefs submitted in support of Petitioners, Greenpeace Southeast Asia et al. https://www.clientearth.org/media/3bknuj3m/joint-amicus-brief-in-the-national-inquiry-on-the-impact-of-climate-change-on-the-human-rights-of-the-filipino-people-coll-en.pdf

Chicago

ClientEarth. Joint Summary of the Amicus Curiae Briefs submitted in support of Petitioners, Greenpeace Southeast Asia et al. 2018. https://www.clientearth.org/media/3bknuj3m/joint-amicus-brief-in-the-national-inquiry-on-the-impact-of-climate-change-on-the-human-rights-of-the-filipino-people-coll-en.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=ClientEarth |title=Joint Summary of the Amicus Curiae Briefs submitted in support of Petitioners, Greenpeace Southeast Asia et al. |date=19 March 2018 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/3bknuj3m/joint-amicus-brief-in-the-national-inquiry-on-the-impact-of-climate-change-on-the-human-rights-of-the-filipino-people-coll-en.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{clientearth2018joint, author = {{ClientEarth}}, title = {{Joint Summary of the Amicus Curiae Briefs submitted in support of Petitioners, Greenpeace Southeast Asia et al.}}, institution = {ClientEarth}, year = {2018}, month = mar, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/3bknuj3m/joint-amicus-brief-in-the-national-inquiry-on-the-impact-of-climate-change-on-the-human-rights-of-the-filipino-people-coll-en.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }