BANGKOK (AP) — Philippine victims of the 2021 typhoon are seeking 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 dioxide emissions.
Shell says it accepts no legal responsibility for the disaster caused by Super Typhoon Odetta 2021known as Typhoon Paradise at the international level. The hurricane killed more than 400 people and was the second deadliest hurricane in Philippine history.
Nearly 70 Filipinos who lost family members to injuries or damages sent Shell a “Letter Before Action” this week asking for an unspecified amount of compensation. If the company does not provide a satisfactory response, they say they plan to file a claim in the UK in mid-December.
The group hopes to set an example before United Nations COP30 climate conference in Brazil next month.
“It's really important to me to take our story off the island, outside the Philippines, and tell the world that we are here, we exist,” Trixie Elle, one of the people involved in the case, told The Associated Press. “We must fight, we must stand, we must defend 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 Climate Justice Movement and green energy transition group Uplift — said they focused on Shell because of its “high historical emissions and early knowledge of the causes and consequences of climate change.”
The Carbon Majors database, managed by global non-profit think tank InfluenceMap, ranks Shell as one of the largest corporate emitters of greenhouse gases, accounting for 2.1% of global emissions since the start of the Industrial Revolution.
“We agree that action on climate change is needed now,” a Shell spokesman told The Associated Press after the “Letter to Action” was delivered to the company's London headquarters. “As we deliver the vital energy the world needs today, we are transforming our business to deliver the low-carbon fuels of the future. The suggestion that Shell had unique knowledge about climate change is simply not true.”
Last year Shell managed to get Major climate regulation overturned in the Netherlands, where the court ordered the company dramatically reduce carbon emissions.
Southeast Asia is extremely vulnerable to climate change. Philippines often ranked at the top of the global climate risk index. This year has brought several deadly storms such as Good morning, passionate, So-may And Matmo.
