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Philippine victims of 2021 typhoon demand compensation from energy giants shell Deaths and damage they say are partly caused by climate change resulting from oil and gas company carbon emissions.
Shell says it is not legally liable for the disaster caused by 2021 Super Typhoon Odette, known internationally as Typhoon Rae. It killed more than 400 people and was the second costliest typhoon in Philippine history.
About 70 Filipinos who lost family members, suffered injuries or damage, sent a “pre-action letter” to Shell this week demanding an unspecified amount of compensation. If the company doesn’t respond satisfactorily, they say they plan to file a lawsuit. Britain In mid December.
The group hopes to set an example further united nations The COP30 climate conference in Brazil next month.
Trixie Alley, one of the people who participated in the case, told the Associated Press, “It’s really important to me that we take our story outside the island, outside the Philippines and let the whole world know that we are here, that we exist.” “We have to fight, we have to stand up, we have to speak up for our rights.”
Alley said she plans to attend a climate conference next month to share her experiences.
The groups supporting the effort – Greenpeace Philippines, the Center for Legal Rights and Natural Resources, the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice and the green energy transition group Uplift – said they focused on shale because of its “high historical emissions and early knowledge of the causes and impacts of climate change.”
The Carbon Majors database, run by the global, non-profit think tank Influence Map, ranks Shell as one of the largest corporate emitters of greenhouse gases, contributing 2.1% of global emissions since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
“We agree that action is needed now on climate change,” a Shell spokesperson told The Associated Press after the letter was sent ahead of the action at the company’s headquarters in London. “As we supply the vital energy the world needs today, we are transforming our business to supply low-carbon fuels for the future. The suggestion that Shell had unique knowledge about climate change is simply not true.”
Last year, Shell succeeded in getting a landmark climate decision overturned NetherlandsWhere a court had ordered the company to drastically reduce its carbon emissions.
Southeast Asia is extremely vulnerable to climate change. The Philippines often tops global climate risk indexes. The year brought several deadly typhoons such as Bualoi, Ragasa, Ko-may and Matamo.
The case against Shell cites research by Ben Clarke, an associate at the Center for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London, who found that heavy rain and strong winds made Typhoon Odette more dangerous.
Jamila Joy Reyes of the London School of Economics’ Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment said the Typhoon Odette case shows that vulnerable communities can use legal means to seek damages over climate change.
According to the Grantham Institute, at least 226 lawsuits were filed globally last year over climate issues. It is tracking about 3,000 cases in 60 countries.
Previous watershed climate cases focused on potential future harm, so initiatives to address past harm are a testing ground, said Sarah Phillips at the Stockholm Environment Institute.
,the courts They have generally accepted that climate change is human-induced, but they have been cautious about assigning responsibility to individual companies,” she said.
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