TAGUIG CITY — Days after Shell announced an all-time high for its 2022 profits, members of climate-impacted communities with the support of Greenpeace Philippines delivered a demand letter to Shell at their headquarters today, and called on the company to stop profiting from destruction and pay reparations for climate impacts.

The group was composed of representatives of communities from Marikina City, which suffered devastating floods from Typhoon Ondoy in 2009 and Ulysses in 2020, joined by Greenpeace volunteers. They biked from Quezon City to Shell’s offices in Bonifacio Global City, delivering a letter with demands for Shell to stop its oil and gas expansion and pay up for loss and damage from climate change, which Greenpeace says the corporation and the fossil fuel industry have knowingly contributed. The letter has been signed by climate-impacted communities across the country.

Communities in the Philippines have been bearing the brunt of extreme weather events (EWEs) worsened by the climate crisis. From 2010-2020, the country lost an estimated PHP 506.1 billion to climate-related hazards, of which PHP 33 billion is attributed to damages solely from Super Typhoon Odette (2021).[1] Meanwhile, Shell and other fossil fuel giants continue to get richer. In 2022, the company posted a record-setting USD 40 billion profit;[2] Chevron earned an all-time high of USD 35.5 billion, and ExxonMobil reported USD 56 billion in profit, the highest in Western oil history.

In 2022, a landmark report[3] based on a climate change and human rights inquiry by the Commision on Human Rights set a solid legal basis for asserting that climate-destructive business activities by fossil fuel and cement companies contribute to human rights harms. The report concluded that Shell and the other 46 Carbon Major respondents in the inquiry should desist from all activities that undermine the findings of climate science, cease further exploration of new oil fields, keep fossil fuel reserves in the ground and lead the just transition to clean energy; and contribute to funds for the implementation of mitigation and adaptation measures. Greenpeace believes that the report’s message is clear: these corporate fossil fuel behemoths cannot continue to transgress human rights and put profit before people and planet. Shell has yet to acknowledge the report, or make any moves towards paying reparations, despite its burgeoning profits.

Communities and Greenpeace are demanding that Shell 1) acknowledge its disproportionate role in historical carbon emissions and commit to a just transition away from fossil fuels; 2) stop all fossil fuel expansion; and 3) pay up for the economic and non-economic loss and damages caused by climate impacts.

The activity is in parallel with an ongoing protest in the Atlantic Ocean, where Greenpeace International activists are occupying a Shell contracted vessel, White Marlin, carrying an oil and gas platform that will enable Shell to unlock eight new wells in the Penguins North Sea oil and gas field.[4]
Despite the clamor from climate advocates and communities, the company continues to expand its fossil fuel operation in the country, including a fossil gas terminal in the Verde Island Passage. This will put the rich and fragile biodiversity in the area and the livelihoods of the coastal communities at risk.[5]

Notes to editors:

[1] [4] Greenpeace boards, occupies Shell vessel with demand: Stop drilling, start paying – Greenpeace Philippines
[1] PH incurs $10-B losses due to climate-related hazards over 10 yrs | PNA

[2] Shell 2022 profit more than doubles to record $40 bln | Reuters

[3] The CHR recommends that the Carbon Majors: “(a) publicly disclose due diligence and climate and human rights impact assessment results, and the corresponding measures taken in response thereto; (b) desist from all activities that undermine the findings of climate science; (c) cease further exploration of new oil fields, keep fossil fuel reserves in the ground, and lead the just transition to clean energy; (d) contribute to a Green Climate Fund for the implementation of mitigation and adaptation measures; and (e) continually engage with experts, CSOs, and other stakeholders for the assessment and improvement of corporate climate response.”

See full report: https://chr.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/CHRP_National-Inquiry-on-Climate-Change-Report.pdf

[5] Groups raise alarm over new gas project in Verde Island Passage | Philstar.com

Media Contact:

Maverick Flores, Communications Campaigner
Greenpeace Philippines | [email protected] | +63 9176211552