London/Quezon City – Survivors of Super Typhoon Rai – locally known as Odette – in the Philippines are suing Shell Plc for propelling the climate catastrophe with knowledge of the risks, in the first major transnational lawsuit seeking personal and property damages from an oil and gas company. 

The case, the first civil claim to also directly link the climate impacts of oil and gas companies to deaths and personal injury already suffered in the Global South, will be heard in the United Kingdom under Philippines law, and is being brought on behalf of over 100 Filipinos who lost loved ones, homes, or suffered serious injuries when Rai struck in December 2021.[1]

Greenpeace Philippines Climate Campaigner Jefferson Chua said, “We’re seeing a surge of climate cases led by Global South communities – a clear sign that people will no longer let oil and gas giants like Shell profit while those who contributed least to this crisis bear the heaviest costs.” 

“Odette survivors are showing extraordinary courage by demanding accountability from one of the world’s biggest climate polluters. They are seeking justice for what they have endured and fighting to protect our collective future. Shell must answer for its part in fueling the extreme weather that devastates their communities.”

The case draws on new climate attribution research which found that human-induced climate change more than doubled the likelihood of an extreme weather event like Typhoon Rai.[2] According to government authorities, Super Typhoon Odette killed more than 405 people in the Philippines, injured around 1,400, and cost the Philippines more than US$700 million in damage. [3] 

The survivors argue that Shell’s historic carbon pollution worsened disasters like Super Typhoon Odette and are seeking compensation for the harm suffered from the typhoon. It is the first civil case to directly link an oil major’s polluting actions to deaths and injuries from climate impacts in the Global South.

Survivors contend that Shell — responsible for over 41 billion tonnes of CO₂e , or more than 2% of global fossil fuel emissions, according to the Carbon Majors database — cannot claim ignorance. [4] Even after Odette, the company scaled back climate commitments and expanded oil and gas investments, contradicting clear scientific guidance that no new fossil fuel development is compatible with a livable future. [5] This comes on top of a long history of industry disinformation and lobbying that delayed climate action. [6] For survivors, Shell’s recent decisions show that despite understanding the risks, Shell continued to expand its fossil fuel operations. 

Shell raked in record profits of US$40 billion the year after Odette, and the company’s latest full-year profit was recorded at US$16.5 billion. [5]

Trixy Elle, one of the claimants in the case, said in Filipino, “Suing a big corporation like Shell for their role in worsening Typhoon Rai might be a tall task, but I have to think about my children’s future.”[6]

“That’s where I get my motivation to go on with the case. It’s so unfair that we have to suffer the effects of climate change even if our contribution to global pollution is so minuscule compared to Shell. Why is it that we have to shoulder the burden?”

This community-led legal action comes on the heels of the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion in respect of climate change (ICJAO), confirming that states must regulate businesses for climate harms caused by their emissions, regardless of where the harm occurs and builds upon the landmark investigation by the Philippines Commission on Human Rights on the corporate responsibility of the climate crisis of 2015-2022 .[7][8]

The Odette survivors’ case is both a call for climate justice and systemic accountability: to make polluters pay, and reclaim the Filipino people’s right to a balanced and healthy ecology.  

ENDS

Photos can be accessed from the Greenpeace Media Library

Notes:

[1] Consistent with well-established legal principles, the case will be brought in the UK courts, where the defendant is domiciled, and apply the law of the Philippines, where the harm occurred. As the case relates to actions taken by a UK-domiciled company in the UK and/or throughout their global operations rather than operations of their subsidiaries in the Philippines, the UK is the only proper legal forum for this case. While the case will be taken in the UK courts, the law applicable to the case is the law of the Philippines, according to the provisions of the Rome II Regulation, 7 as this is the country in which the damage occurred.

[2] The influence of anthropogenic climate change on Super Typhoon Odette (Typhoon Rai) and its impacts in the Philippines

[3]  https://monitoring-dashboard.ndrrmc.gov.ph/assets/uploads/situations/Infographics_Odette.pdf

[4] https://carbonmajors.org/Entity/Shell-149  

[5] https://www.shell.com/investors/results-and-reporting/annual-report.html  

[6] Translation by Greenpeace Philippines

[7] https://www.icj-cij.org/case/187 

[8] https://www.greenpeace.org/philippines/the-climate-change-human-rights-inquiry-archive/ 

Contacts: 

Karl Isaac Santos, Communications Team, Greenpeace Philippines , [email protected] | +63 917 675 8883

Atty. Ryan Roset , Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC), [email protected]