Shares in oil giant Shell (SHEL) were flat today as victims of a deadly typhoon in the Philippines took it to court claiming that its extraction of fossil fuels made the storm worse.
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Shell Played a Role
About 400 people were killed and millions of homes hit when Typhoon Rai battered the Philippines back in 2021. A group of survivors from that storm have filed a legal claim against Shell in the U.K. courts claiming that Shell had a role in making the storm more likely and more damaging.
According to a BBC report, Shell said the claim was “baseless”, as was the suggestion that it had unique knowledge that carbon emissions drove climate change.
The case is believed to be the first one of its kind against a major U.K. producer of oil and gas.
In a letter sent to Shell before the claim was filed at court, the legal team for the survivors said the case is being brought before the U.K. courts as that is where Shell is domiciled – but that it will apply the law of the Philippines as that is where the damage occurred.
The letter argues that Shell is responsible for 2% of historical global greenhouse gases, as calculated by the Carbon Majors database of oil and gas production.
As such it is claimed that Shell has “materially contributed” to human-driven climate change.
Climate Misinformation Claim
The survivors’ group further claims that Shell has a “history of climate misinformation,” and has known since 1965 that fossil fuels were the primary cause of climate change.
“Instead of changing their industry, they still do their business,” said one of the victim’s family. “It’s very clear that they choose profit over the people. They choose money over the planet.”
A Shell spokesperson said: “The suggestion that Shell had unique knowledge about climate change is simply not true. The issue and how to tackle it has been part of public discussion and scientific research for many decades.”
This is not the first time oil majors have been accused of causing climate change in court. In 2023 the state of California sued multiple leading companies, including Exxon (XOM), Shell, ConocoPhillips (COP), Chevron (CVX), and BP (BP). The state accused these companies of deceiving the public by downplaying potential risks from fossil fuels, leading to damages worth billions of dollars.
These cases expose one of the major risks – legal and regulatory – that oil companies and investors need to be aware of – see above.
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