SOUTH KOREA’S Constitutional Court ordered the government to back its climate goals today with more concrete plans for action through 2049 in a victory for campaigners.
The court, which weighs the constitutionality of laws, issued the assessment while ruling on four climate cases raised by 255 plaintiffs, including many who were children or teenagers when their complaints were filed against the government in 2020.
“Today’s ruling confirms that climate change is an issue related to our fundamental rights and everyone has a right to be safe from climate change,” Sejong Youn, one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs, said.
“The ball is now with the government and the National Assembly,” he said, referring to South Korea’s parliament.
The campaigners argued that South Korea’s goal to cut carbon emissions by 35 per cent from 2018 levels by 2030 is inadequate to manage the impact of climate change – and even those objectives weren’t backed by sufficient implementation plans.
They also pointed out that the country has yet to establish policies to reduce carbon emissions after 2031, despite its goals of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
The plaintiffs allege that South Korea’s lax climate policies violate their human rights by leaving them vulnerable to future deteriorations in the environment and climate-related harm.
The court did not require South Korea’s government to set up a more ambitious 2030 target under its carbon neutrality act and also rejected the plaintiffs’ calls for more specific plans to ensure implementation, saying they’d failed to demonstrate the policy was unconstitutional.
However, the court did uphold the plaintiffs’ argument that the country needed to establish a method of cutting emissions from 2031 to 2049 and ordered the government to modify its carbon neutrality law by February 28, 2026 to include such plans.
Lee Eun-Ae, one of the court’s nine justices, said the lack of concrete emission reduction plans after 2031 is unconstitutional because it fails to protect basic rights, infringes on the environmental rights of plaintiffs and “transfers an excessive burden” to future generations.
The South Korean Ministry of Environment said in a statement it respects the court’s decision and will “faithfully implement follow-up measures.”
Activists and lawyers representing the plaintiffs welcomed the decision, expressing hope that it could inspire similar action in Asia and other parts of the world.
They urged the government and legislators to strengthen the country’s 2030 target as well as set up plans from 2031 to 2049.
Han Je-Ah, one of the youngest plaintiffs at 12 years old, said the ruling felt “joyful and satisfying like a wish coming true.”
“The climate crisis is not a future problem, but a reality that everyone is experiencing now,” she said.
“I hope this ruling will bring bigger changes so that children like me don’t have to file constitutional complaints in the future.”
