One Way to Make Polluters Pay
Green Christian member, Judith Russenberger, describes one way for polluters to pay.
A few days before Christmas 2021 – and very late on in the typhoon season – super typhoon Odette slammed into the Philippines. This was a category 5 tropical cyclone with combined high winds in excess of 175 mph, extreme rainfall and a storm surge. Devastating the lives of 8 million people across 514 towns and cities, it brought down power cables and trees, broke up roads and fishing boats, disrupted communications and water supplies, destroyed or damages 1.4 million homes and 2000 schools, destroyed crops and livelihoods, and killed over 400 hundred people.
Research has shown that the extreme rainfall recorded was twice as likely due to anthropogenic climate change, and the extreme winds 70% more likely for the same reason. At the time, it was the second most costly typhoon to hit the Philippines, causing damage of nearly $1 billion.
67 survivors of Typhoon Odette from several Philippine communities whose family members were killed or whose homes were destroyed are now preparing to sue Shell. The first stage of this has been the issuing of a Letter Before Action (LBA) which has been sent to Shell notifying them that the claimants, having suffered severe losses including damage to property, personal injury, bereavement, loss of earnings and loss of cultural rights. The claim alleges that Shell has contributed materially and knowingly to anthropogenic climate change, and therefore contributed in no small way to the damage suffered by the claimants.
The claim is being brought in the UK as that is where Shell is domiciled but will apply the law of the Philippines as that is where the damaged occurred. The claimants are being represented by the London law firm Hausfeld LLP. If no agreement is reached between Shell and the Philippine claimants, then a law suit will be filed, probably in December. Greg Lascelles, partner at the law firm Hausfeld and leader of the legal team, said,
“The case seeks to hold Shell accountable to our Filipino clients. By proving in court that Shell was at fault for this climate change-driven extreme weather event and the suffering it caused, the case highlights the far-reaching and direct impacts on vulnerable communities worldwide of oil and gas company activities,”
The Philippines Commission on Human Rights spent 7 years investigating the impact of anthropogenic climate change on the people of the Philippines in response to an initial petition made by survivors of Typhoon Haiyan in 2013. Published in 2022 their report concluded that the world’s most polluting companies are morally and legally liable for the impacts of the climate crisis because they have engaged in wilful obfuscation of climate science and obstructed efforts towards a global transition to clean energy.
Only last month did ten thousand people take part in a march through central London for the Make Them Pay rally, calling for action to make polluters pay. Both Christian Climate Action and Green Christian were there as part of the faith block. The case being brought by the survivors of Typhoon Odette is one of a now growing number of legal actions being taken against fossil fuel giants, as campaigners press for climate justice. This case is being supported by Green Christian and others including Uplift, Greenpeace, Fossil Free London and Christian Climate Action. Last Thursday Fossil Free London lined up blue boiler-suited activists in front of Shell’s headquarters and, with flags and banners and songs, launched their support for the Typhoon Odette claimants. Whilst the claimants would have liked to address us directly, their request for visas had been turned down, so instead we listened to a recorded message.
If you wish to support this case, you can find out more here, and sign a petition.
Judith Russenberger is a member of Green Christian and writes a blog greentau.org
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