The NHRCK welcomes the decision by the Constitutional Court
on Asia's First Climate Lawsuit
Constitutional Court finds that the government's response to the climate crisis fails to consider future generations.
Government must fully reflect the Constitutional Court's decision in formulating the NDC
(30 August 2024, Seoul) The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (Chairperson Song Doo-hwan, hereinafter referred to as the "NHRCK") welcomes the decision of the Constitutional Court of 29 August 2024 which declared Article 8(1) of the Framework Act on Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth for Coping with the Climate Crisis (hereinafter referred to as the "Carbon Neutrality Framework Act") unconstitutional. The said Article reads: The Government shall set a national medium- and long-term greenhouse gas emission reduction target (hereinafter referred to as "mid-to long-term reduction target") to reduce national greenhouse gas emissions by a ratio prescribed by Presidential Decree to the extent of not less than 35 percent from the 2018 levels by 2030.
The Constitutional Court ruled that 'Article 8(1) of the Framework Act on Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth, which only sets a percentage reduction target for 2030 and does not provide any form of quantitative standard for the reduction targets from 2031 to 2049, violates the obligation to protect fundamental rights in violation of the principles of subsidiarity and reservation of law, as it cannot effectively ensure a gradual and continuous reduction until the carbon neutrality target of 2050, and regulates the reduction targets in a way that shifts an undue burden to the future'. The court ruled that the law should be amended by 28 February 2026, which is the deadline for the amendment.
It also emphasised that ‘legislators have more specific legislative duties and responsibilities for medium- and long-term greenhouse gas reduction plans, given that future generations will be more exposed to the effects of the climate crisis and are currently restricted from participating in the democratic political process.’
The Constitutional Court's decision is significant as it is the first climate case in Asia to claim that a country's inadequate Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) violate people's fundamental rights, and underlines the need for governments to consider equity with current and future generations in their response to the climate crisis, including in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
In August 2023, the NHRCK submitted an amicus brief to the Constitutional Court with the following two points:
- The Framework Act on Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth does not take into account the proportional allocation of the carbon budget that future generations can enjoy by not setting a gradual carbon reduction target after 2031. It excessively restricts the freedoms and rights of future generations in advance and violates the principle of equality between present and future generations.
- The arbitrary delegation of the greenhouse gas reduction target by 2030 to the executive without a phased greenhouse gas reduction target by 2050 to achieve carbon neutrality violates the principle of non-delegation and the principle of parliamentary reservation. Therefore, it does not fully reflect international standards and the urgency of the climate crisis, and fails to take the minimum safeguards to protect the freedoms and rights of present and future generations, violating the state's obligation to protect fundamental rights.
The NHRCK expects that the Constitutional Court's decision on the first climate case in Asia will have a significant impact on ongoing climate litigation around the world. We also hope that the government will set greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for 2031 and beyond that take into account future generations, develop climate crisis policies from a human rights perspective, and set responsible emission reduction targets in line with international standards in its 2035 NDCs to be submitted to the UNFCCC in 2025.
While no one can escape the increasingly severe impacts of the climate crisis, such as heat waves, heavy rains, typhoons, droughts and cold waves caused by extreme weather events, the NHRCK stresses the importance of adopting a human rights perspective in the government's response to the climate crisis, especially for climate-vulnerable groups such as the elderly, persons with disabilities, children, migrant workers, the homeless and low-income groups, as it threatens their survival.
The international community, including the United Nations, is responding to the climate crisis by approaching it as a human rights issue, and the NHRCK has also stated that the climate crisis should be approached and responded to from a human rights perspective through its "Opinion on the Climate Crisis and Human Rights" in 2022.
The NHRCK will continue to monitor the impact of the climate crisis on vulnerable populations and the government's response to it, and will advocate for improvements in relevant laws and policies where necessary
