The claimants, backed by Greenpeace Philippines and Friends of the Earth, delivered a legal notice to Shell’s London headquarters on Wednesday, accusing the oil giant of fueling the climate crisis that made the disaster deadlier.
Typhoon Rai left in its wake at least 400 people dead, with the government recording 1.8 million families and more than six million individuals affected.
Their legal action is described by their lawyers as the first civil case to directly connect an oil and gas company’s greenhouse gas emissions to fatalities and injuries from a past disaster in the Global South. A previous lawsuit filed against the board of directors of TotalEnergies was a criminal case, seeking punishment for climate harms. Meanwhile, a case filed by a Peruvian farmer against German energy major RWE, which operates coal plants, used civil law to sue for future impacts.
If no settlement is reached with Shell, the complainants will seek damages before Britain’s High Court in December, according to their lawyers from Philippine-based nonprofit Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center and UK-headquartered law firm Hausefeld.
Annie Casquejo, one of the claimants said that if they win the case, they will use the money to pay for property destroyed by the supertyphoon. Damages wrought by Typhoon Rai were recorded to reach US$951 million, including US$596 million of infrastructure damage.
“This will help a lot because if we win the case, Shell will pay us damages. At least we will be able to recover the properties we have saved [for] for years so that we can leave something for our grandchildren,” said Casquejo. “It is not in vain that our community is fighting the case against a big company like Shell. Whether we win or lose, at least we did something even though we are small. It is not just about money, it is also about justice.”
The lawsuit relies on the growing field of climate attribution science, which quantifies how much human-caused global warming has intensified specific weather events.
A study by scientists from Imperial College London and Sheffield University concluded climate change more than doubled the likelihood of an extreme event like Rai. Another report by the World Weather Attribution service found that climate change has exacerbated the conditions that enabled these powerful storms to form in the Philippine Sea, such as warm seas and high humidity.
The lawsuit comes after the International Court of Justice ruled in July that states have a legal duty to monitor the emissions of corporates, including those that produce and consume dirty energy. The United Nations’ highest court said that firms can be held responsible for the resulting harms.
In 2022, the Philippine Commission on Human Rights also released a report that found that 47 major fossil fuel companies, including Shell, could be held morally and legally responsible for human rights violations linked to climate damage.
No unique knowledge
Shell denied claims that they possessed specific, detailed, and early awareness about how their products and emissions cause climate change and the resulting harms.
“We agree that action is needed now on climate change. As we supply vital energy the world needs today, we are transforming our business to supply lower-carbon fuels for the future,” a Shell spokesperson told Eco-Business.
“The suggestion that Shell had unique knowledge about climate change is simply not true. The issue of climate change and how to tackle it has been part of public discussion and scientific research for decades.”
Far from concealing anything about climate change, Shell’s position on the issue has been publicly documented for more than three decades, including in publications such as our annual reports and sustainability reports, said the spokesperson.
Shell even produced a documentary called “Climate of Concern” in 1991, which was available to the public, the spokesperson added.
According to the Carbon Majors database, Shell’s global operations is responsible for about 2.5 per cent of all industrial-era global emissions — making it one of the largest corporate contributors to global warming.
