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In a historic ruling, South Korea's Constitutional Court declared August 29, 2024 that the government's climate targets are unconstitutional because they do not safeguard the rights of future generations.
The court mandated the creation of emission reduction plans for the period from 2031-49 and instructed the government to amend the carbon neutrality law by February 28, 2026, to incorporate these plans.
The Constitutional Court has asked for the rewriting of the country's climate law, while ruling on four climate cases raised by 255 plaintiffs filed since 2020. Some of the applicants were as young as a 20-week-old embryo at the time of filing of the case.
When Choi Hee-Woo was a 20 week old foetus, he became one of the world's youngest plaintiffs by joining a lawsuit filed against the South Korean government's emission targets. The case thus came to be known as Woodpecker et al vs South Korea after Choi's in-utero nickname.
The case aimed to demonstrate that the nation's climate objectives —cutting carbon emissions by 40 per cent from 2018 levels by 2030 —violated their constitutionally protected human rights.
On February 19, 2024, the court merged the case with two other constitutional cases, challenging the countrt's nationally determined contribution (NDC) and one case challenging the implementation plan of the NDC, the 1st Carbon Neutrality Basic Plan.
South Korea's NDC of December 2021 established a goal to reduce emissions by 40 percent from 2018 levels by 2030. This target is an enhancement from the prior NDC, which aimed for a 24.4 percent reduction from 2017 levels.
After accounting for the proposed forestry contributions and international reductions, the goal equates to a 32 per cent decrease in domestic emissions by 2030, relative to 2018 levels. To meet the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C temperature limit, Climate Action Tracker estimated that a domestic emissions reduction of at least 59 per cent by 2030 is needed.
In 2020, 41 South Koreans, including farmers, fishermen and coastal residents, filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), alleging that their human rights including the right to life and the right to health were violated by the climate crisis.
NHRC dismissed the case initially, but in July 2021, it launched an investigation into the effects of climate change on human rights. In January 2023, for the first time, NHRC presented its views on the climate crisis and human rights to the President and the government.
The NHRC emphasised that the state must acknowledge the safeguarding and advancement of human rights for everyone amid the climate crisis as a core duty. Additionally, it should improve pertinent laws and regulations to address the climate crisis from a human rights standpoint.
Environmental activists are optimistic that legal proceedings in South Korea might inspire reforms in other parts of the region. They believe the decision could establish a benchmark in an area where comparable cases have been initiated in Taiwan and Japan.
Japan's first climate change lawsuit, whose plaintiffs were exclusively young people (ranging in age from 15 to 29), was filed August 6, 2024. The lawsuit was against 10 major thermal power companies demanding lowering of carbon dioxide emissions.