Dozens of the survivors of a devastating 2021 typhoon in the Philippines said on Thursday they would seek damages from Shell in a UK court over the oil giant’s role in climate change.

The landmark case, being brought by 67 people who were injured or lost relatives and property in Typhoon Odette and supported by Greenpeace Philippines, alleges that Shell’s actions contributed to anthropogenic climate change, making the tropical cyclone significantly more likely and more severe.

“With fossil fuel emissions being linked to stronger tropical storms like Odette, vulnerable communities like ours are struggling to keep their head above water,” said Trixy Elle, one of the claimants. “This is not acceptable, this is not just and we must fight.”

Typhoon Rai’s trail of destruction in the Philippines reignites loss and damage calls

Their case is the first civil claim to directly link oil and gas companies to death and personal injury in past climate disasters in the Global South, the group said, although other cases are in the pipeline.

Earlier this year, in another pioneering climate case, a German court threw out a Peruvian farmer’s lawsuit seeking damages from German utility RWE for allegedly putting his home at risk from floods due to melting glaciers caused by global warming.

Despite the dismissal of the case, experts said the judge’s ruling confirmed that climate science can establish legal liability for damage caused by emissions.

Right to a healthy environment

The filing of the lawsuit comes three years after the publication of a major report by the Philippines Commission on Human Rights, which concluded that polluters could potentially be held liable for climate change.

The case will be filed in Britain because that is where Shell is headquartered, but the ruling will apply the law of the Philippines, where the alleged harm occurred.

The claimants have sent the company an initial letter before action and plan to file a formal claim before the High Court in London later in December.

Lawyers will argue that Shell violated the claimants’ rights under the Philippine constitution, including their right to a balanced and healthy environment, and that the company acted with negligence because it had the opportunity to mitigate climate harm and an obligation to refrain from obfuscating climate science, but failed to do either.

They will also argue that Shell has profited enormously and unjustly from its business activities at the cost of the claimants.

A Shell spokesperson told Climate Home News the company had received the claimants’ letter, acknowledging that more global action was needed on climate change but rejecting the suggestion that Shell had unique knowledge about the problem.

“The issue of climate change and how to tackle it has been part of public discussion and scientific research for decades,” the spokesperson said.

Climate science advances

Typhoon Odette – known internationally as Typhoon Rai – struck the Philippines in December 2021, killing more than 400 people, severely injuring 1,000 more and destroying 1.4 million homes. It cost the Southeast Asian country millions of dollars.

The lawsuit draws on recent advances in climate attribution science, in particular a recent study which found that anthropogenic climate change – climate change caused by humans – more than doubled the risk of such an extreme event.

So far, no oil and gas company has been found legally liable for damages associated with climate change. But a growing number of lawsuits are trying to do so, with potential liabilities for the 25 largest oil and gas firms estimated at more than $20 trillion.

According to the Carbon Majors database, Shell was responsible for more than 2.5% of global fossil fuel emissions since the beginning of the industrial revolution, making it one of the world’s largest corporate emitters. By contrast, the Philippines has contributed just 0.2% of global carbon emissions.

Greg Lascelles, a partner at global law firm Hausfeld who is leading the legal team in the Odette case, said the lawsuit aimed to hold Shell accountable.

“By proving in court that Shell was at fault for this climate change-driven extreme weather event and the suffering it caused, the case highlights the far-reaching and direct impacts on vulnerable communities worldwide of oil and gas company activities,” Lascelles said.

Climate justice campaigner Tessa Khan, executive director of the UK-based organisation Uplift, called it a “genuinely unprecedented case”.

“It’s a new milestone in climate litigation and corporate accountability for the impact of climate change,” she said. “But it’s also really significant in the wider political context in which we’re seeing oil and gas companies, investors in the energy sector, all starting to roll back on their commitments to transition away from fossil fuels.”

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Philippines storm victims to seek damages from Shell in “unprecedented” climate claim