‘Carbon bomb’ makers are putting all our lives at risk | Letters

Peter Muchlinski, Robert Cooper and Andy Bradley respond to the Guardian's expose of big oil's fossil fuel projects that are a colossal threat to the climate and human life

Your expose on the dangers of fossil fuel carbon bombs" (Revealed: the carbon bombs' set to trigger catastrophic climate breakdown, 11 May) gives us much to worry about. I would like to offer a small ray of hope. Last year, The Hague's district court held that Royal Dutch Shell was obliged to reduce the group's CO₂ emissions by a net 45% by the end of 2030 relative to 2019. Shell was found to have a legal duty of care to do so, based on the relevant facts of the case, the best available science on climate change and how to manage it, and the widespread international consensus that human rights offer protection against the impacts of dangerous climate change and that companies must respect human rights".

This linkage between climate change and human rights is a major step towards acknowledging that fossil-fuel-based industries are a significant threat to human rights. It offers a basis for mass legal challenges against the purveyors of carbon bombs. Sadly, the UK and other governments don't see it this way and continue to subsidise such projects. In this, they may well be complicit in mass violations of human rights. Uncontrolled fossil fuel investment should be seen as a direct threat to the human right to life, and the law should impose severe financial penalties on firms and governments that continue to invest in carbon bomb projects.