South Korea’s Constitutional Court yesterday uled that much of the country’s climate goals were unconstitutional, handing a landmark victory to young environmental activists, who wept for joy on the court steps.
The first such case in Asia, brought by children and teenagers who named an embryo as a lead plaintiff, claimed that South Korea’s legally binding climate commitments were insufficient and unmet, violating their constitutionally guaranteed human rights.
The court ruled that the government’s limited climate targets violate the constitution as they do “not sufficiently protect the basic rights of the people,” the legal representatives of the plaintiffs said after the hearing.
In 2021, South Korea made a legally binding commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 290 million tons by 2030 — and to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. To meet this goal, the country needs to reduce emissions by 5.4 percent every year from 2023 — a target they have so far failed to meet. As a result of the ruling, Seoul will now have to revise its climate goals, said a lawyer for the plaintiffs
