South Korean Youth Scores Historic Climate Victory, Setting Important Precedent for Climate Litigation in Asia

In Asia’s first-of-its-kind ruling, the Constitutional Court of Korea’ said on Thursday that the South Korean government’s unambitious climate targets are unconstitutional as they fail to protect the rights of future generations.

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A top court in South Korea on Thursday ruled the country’s measures to fight climate change insufficient for protecting the rights of its citizens in Asia’s first climate litigation ruling of its kind.

Currently, South Korea does not have any legally binding targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions between 2031 and 2049. This absence means the government cannot guarantee the protection of future generations, a right engrained in its constitution, the Constitutional Court of Korea ruled.

“Future generations will be more exposed to the impact of climate change, but their participation in today’s democratic political process is limited,” the court said, as reported by The New York Times. “So the legislators have the duty and responsibility to make concrete laws for mid- and long-term greenhouse gas reduction plans.”

The top court however rejected a claim that the country’s near term emission reduction goal was also in breach of the constitution. South Korea has pledged to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 40% from 2018 levels by decade’s end, a target that the court said was sufficient.

The government was given until February 2026 to set firm carbon-reduction targets for 2031 and beyond.

The unanimous verdict marks the end of a four-year legal battle initiated by young activists from The Youth 4 Climate Action, a group spearheading the Korean segment of the global school climate strike movement. In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs alleged that the government’s emission reduction targets were too weak and in breach of basic constitutional rights of citizens, particularly those of future generations.

Since March 2020, when the first lawsuit was filed, hundreds more activists helped consolidate three additional legal actions, bringing the total number of plaintiffs to 255. One-third of them were children or teenagers at the time of the filings.

Reactions

Young activists wept for joy on the court steps following the verdict.

“There is some disappointment regarding the parts that were not upheld today. However, it is clear that today’s ruling represents meaningful progress in protecting everyone’s rights beyond the climate crisis,” the plaintiffs said in a joint statement.

“The decision we face today is not just a victory for the plaintiffs who filed the lawsuit; it is an achievement for all those who have been excluded from the national climate response process while confronting the climate crisis.”

Yoon Hyeon-jeong, one of the young activists involved, delivered a tearful speech outside the court on Thursday: “Just now, the Constitutional Court ruled that it is unconstitutional that there is no government goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from 2031 to 2050,” Yoon said. “It was ruled that our right to live a safe life from the climate crisis should be guaranteed.”

Kim Seo-gyeong, a Youth 4 Climate Action activist, celebrated the victory which she said was “achieved by ordinary people like us, adding that the court’s decision was the beginning of a renewed push for more ambitious climate action.

“Responding to the climate crisis means reducing its risks, controlling factors that could exacerbate the crisis, and building safety nets to sustain life and society. I look forward to seeing how this constitutional complaint will change the standards for climate response and what transformations it will bring,” Kim said.

More on the topic: The Most Important Climate Litigation Cases of 2024 and Why They Matter

An Important Precedent For the Region

Thursday’s ruling comes just months after a similar landmark victory scored by a group of elderly Swiss women known as KlimaSeniorinnen (Senior Women for Climate Protection). The group said their country’s failure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions had violated their human rights. In a move deemed “historic,” the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled in favour of the women, ordering the Swiss state to put in place measures to address those shortcomings within three months. 

Earlier this week, environmental groups CAN Europe and the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) sued the European Commission over what they allege are “grossly inadequate” emission reduction targets.

Thursday also marked the first climate litigation ruling of its kind in Asia. Experts say the landmark decision sets an important precedent for the region, as similar cases are under way.

Japan, where climate litigation is still a novelty, earlier this month saw a group of young activists file its first-ever youth climate lawsuit. The 16 plaintiffs, aged between 15 and 29, argue that 10 major Japanese thermal power companies contribute to climate change and thus infringe upon some fundamental human rights.

In Taiwan, a climate litigation case is awaiting resolution in its Constitutional Court. The lawsuit was filed in 2021 by Greenpeace East Asia, the Environmental Jurists Association, and four individual plaintiffs, who accuse Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs’ (MOEA) Regulation for Large Power Consumers of being unambitious and in breach of the country’s climate laws. According to the regulation, high electricity users are obliged to shift 10% of their contracted capacity to renewable energy.

In Indonesia, 14 individuals have lodged a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission, alleging that the government is infringing on their constitutional rights by not implementing adequate mitigation and adaptation measures as well as measures to limit the temperatures rise to below 1.5C, as set in the legally binding Paris Agreement. The plaintiffs, aged between 7 and 59, claim to have faced “life-threatening hazards, reduced physical and mental well-being, increased health risks, food and water insecurity, along with disruption to their education and livelihoods” because of climate change.

“South Korea’s Constitutional Court has sent an unequivocal message that climate action is a legal duty,” said Sarah Mead, Co-Director of the Climate Litigation Network. “As the first ruling of its kind in Asia, this hugely significant victory will have a positive ripple effect throughout the region and provide further support to the dozens of similar cases that are currently pending across the world.”

Featured image: Youth4ClimateAction.