BANGKOK (AP) – 2021 victims of a typhoon in the Philippines are demanding compensation from energy giant Shell for deaths and damage they say has been exacerbated by climate change caused in part by the oil and gas company’s carbon emissions.
Shell says it is not legally responsible for the 2021 disaster. Super Typhoon Odette, internationally known as Typhoon Rai. It killed more than 400 people and was the second costliest storm in Philippine history.
Nearly 70 Filipinos who lost family members and suffered injuries or damage sent a “Letter Against Action” to Shell this week seeking unspecified compensation. If the company does not provide a satisfactory response, they say they plan to file a lawsuit in Britain in mid-December.
The group hopes to set an example ahead of next month’s United Nations COP30 climate conference in Brazil.
“It’s really important for me to take our story outside the island, outside the Philippines, and tell the whole world that we are here, we exist,” Trixy Elle, one of the people involved in the case, told The Associated Press. “We have to fight, we have to stand, we have to stand up for our rights.
Elle 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 Shell because of its “high historical emissions and early knowledge of the causes and effects of climate change.”
The Carbon Majors Database, run by the global non-profit organization InfluenceMap, ranks Shell as one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, with 2.1 percent of emissions since the start of the industrial revolution.
“We agree that action needs to be taken now on climate change,” a Shell spokesman told The Associated Press after the Letter Before Action was delivered to the company’s London headquarters. “As we provide the vital energy the world needs today, we are reshaping our business to deliver low-carbon fuels in the future. The claim that Shell has unique knowledge about climate change is simply wrong.”
Last year, Shell succeeded in overturning a landmark climate change ruling in the Netherlands, where a court ordered the company to drastically cut carbon emissions.
Southeast Asia is highly vulnerable to climate change. The Philippines often ranks near the top of the global climate risk index. This year brought several deadly storms such as Bualoi, Ragasa, Co-may and Matmo.
The case against Shell is based on research by Ben Clarke, a fellow at Imperial College London’s Center for Environmental Policy, which found that heavy rain and high winds made Typhoon Odette more dangerous.
The case of Typhoon Odette shows that vulnerable communities can use legal remedies to redress climate change damage, said Jameela Joy Reyes of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and Environmental Research at the London School of Economics.
According to the Grantham Institute, at least 226 climate-related lawsuits were filed worldwide last year. It monitors nearly 3,000 cases in 60 countries.
Past watershed climate cases focused on potential future damage, so initiatives to address past damage are a testing ground, said Sara Phillips of the Stockholm Environment Institute.
“Courts have generally accepted that climate change is human-caused, but they have been careful to assign responsibility to individual companies,” she said.
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