By Ju-min Park
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s Supreme Court said on Thursday the climate change law does not protect basic human rights and does not aim to protect future generations. This is a landmark ruling after activists blamed the government for its failure to effectively tackle climate change.
About 200 claimants, including young climate activists and even some children, have filed petitions with the Constitutional Court since 2020, arguing that their government is violating the human rights of its citizens by not doing enough about climate change.
The court asked the legislature to revise the carbon neutrality law by the end of February 2026, recognizing that the existing law’s emissions targets were inconsistent with the Constitution by violating the duty to protect fundamental rights as well as future generations protect against a climate crisis.
Climate advocacy groups said this was the first Supreme Court ruling on a government’s climate action in Asia, potentially setting a precedent in a region where similar lawsuits have been filed in Taiwan and Japan.
In April, Europe’s highest human rights court ruled that the Swiss government had violated the rights of its citizens by not doing enough to combat climate change.
The Korean court’s ruling was greeted with cheers, tears and applause by prosecutors, activists and lawyers, who chanted slogans such as “The verdict is not the end, but the beginning.”
“I hope today’s decision will lead to a bigger change so that children don’t have to file this kind of constitutional appeal,” said Han Je-ah, 12, one of the plaintiffs.
“The climate crisis has a huge impact on our lives and there is no time to delay,” she told reporters after the ruling.
Kim Young-hee, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, called the verdict “an important decision for the reduction of greenhouse gases throughout society.”
The court said South Korea’s carbon neutrality law, which was enacted in 2010 and later revised to set emissions targets by 2030 and the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, does not propose a “quantitative level” for the reduction targets between 2031 and 2049.
“Given that there is no mechanism that can effectively ensure gradual and continuous reductions until 2050, it sets reduction targets that would transfer an excessive burden into the future,” the court said in a statement.
In a statement, the Environment Ministry said it respected the verdict and would implement follow-up measures.
Koh Moon-hyun, a law professor at Soongsil University, told Reuters the ruling could potentially lead to change in other countries.
“The court must have looked at rulings in Europe and changed its position,” he said. “It has given South Korea the opportunity to shed its climate villain moniker.”
Scientists say a global temperature increase of more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above the pre-industrial average will have catastrophic and irreversible consequences for the planet, from melting ice caps to the collapse of ocean currents.
South Korea aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 but remains the second-biggest coal polluter among G20 countries after Australia, data shows, with slow adoption of renewables.
Last year, the country revised downwards its 2030 targets for greenhouse gas reductions in the industrial sector, but it has maintained its national target of cutting emissions by 40% of 2018 levels.
(This story has been refiled to remove the word “top” from the headline)
