‘Carbon Majors’ asked to respond to rights violations claim

Reuters are reporting that a Philippine rights body has set a deadline of 45 days for 47 global oil, mining and cement firms to answer a complaint that their carbon emissions caused human rights violations.

The action followed a petition by human rights and environmental groups led by Greenpeace seeking to hold the companies accountable for infringement of Filipinos' rights to life, food, water, sanitation and adequate housing, through the adverse impact of climate change.

It is the first time anywhere in the world that a government agency has accepted, and acted on, a request for investigation of the environmental responsibility of fossil fuel companies.

Rights advocates and green groups have called this a landmark case.

In June last year, a district court in the Netherlands ordered the government to cut greenhouse gas emissions faster than currently planned, making rare use of the legal system to curb global warming.

Edited from source by Joseph Green. Source: Reuters

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/asia-pacific-rim/29072016/carbon-majors-rights-violations-claim-22/