DAVAO CITY—Greenpeace, the global environmental group, said it was elated with the start of the investigation over the role of alleged corporate polluters to the environment and their contribution to the adverse impact of climate change.
“The net closes in on the biggest climate polluters. Justice will be delivered to the communities living on the frontlines of the climate crisis,” said Yeb Saño, petitioner and executive director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia.
He said environmental activists would be closely watching the proceedings of the “conference of parties to the Commission on Human Rights [CHR] of the Philippines’s national inquiry on the impact of climate change on the human rights of the Filipino and the responsibility of the ‘Carbon Majors.’”
The recent investigation was held last Monday.
“The Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines made a historical move by asserting its clear and explicit authority and jurisdiction to investigate all forms of human-rights violations,” he said.
He said the investigations have included “human-rights violations resulting from climate change.” The investigation was tagged a “national inquiry involving 47 investor-owned carbon producers.” The companies requested to answer were into mining and oil and petroleum global extraction and distribution.
“The Commission will proceed with public hearings in 2018, despite the refusal of most of the big polluters to so far participate meaningfully,” Greenpeace said.
It said the companies “that opt out of the proceedings lose the opportunity to demonstrate commitment to climate protection and respect for human rights.”
“Let’s hope their New Year’s resolution is to become a part of the solution by showing up at the public hearings in 2018 and addressing climate change in their business practices,” Saño said.
He said the CHR’s move “reflects the growing uncertainty about the future of the fossil-fuel industry.”
“In November a German court ruled it is possible for a private company to be held liable for its share of climate damage, allowing a Peruvian farmer to proceed with his climate claim against RWE, Europe’s biggest single emitter of carbon dioxide. The decisions in Germany and the Philippines signal the end of the age of fossil fuels,” he added.