South Korean children are suing the government: What could be the reason?

The Constitutional Court of South Korea held the climax hearing in late May of the very first case in East Asia. The case challenged the national climate policies. The case involves children suing the South Korean government.

Understanding the children's climate case in South Korea

The Constitutional Court of South Korea heard the landmark cases that alleged the government of South Korea is not able to safeguard the people in the country from harsh climatic change.

Between the time frame of 2020 and 2023, four climate cases, similar to each other, were filed. It was in April that the first hearing of the joint case was heard. The second and the last case was heard on May 21.

Hee-Woo became the youngest-ever plaintiff of the world as he is just 20-week old embryo. The petition of woo was named as "Woodpecker v South Korea". The petition was filed by over 200 people. The suit included 62 children who actually fall below the age of five.

It was in the year 2020, another suit was filed by a total of 19 young activists.

The contentions

The plaintiffs in the case contend that sans a stronger climate action by the government, the government is actually not meeting the constitutional obligation it is supposed to meet of safeguarding the right to life and a healthy environment of people.

As per the 2015 Paris Agreement, a legally binding international commitment was made by South Korea to stop the average global temperatures from increasing by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius in the century.

The Amnesty International suggests that while the date of the verdict is not clear, a decision of the case is expected this year in the end.

South Korea and its climate agreements

As per the Decree of Carbon Neutrality Act of South Korea, the country must decrease its greenhouse gas emissions by about 40 percent by the year 2030 as compared to the emission levels of the year 2018. This would mean a significant drop of 290 million tonnes. This comes as a Nationally Determined Contribution.

This contribution is actually unique to every country. The contribution represents the commitment of the country towards bringing a decline in the global emissions as per the Paris Agreement of the year 2015.

The plaintiffs contend that the goal estimates at present suggest that South Korea requires a reduction in the global temperature rise.

Moreover, in order to meet the goal by the year 2030, it is essential for the country to bring a decline in the emissions by about 5.4 percent every year from the year 2023.

The country also aims to achieve net zero by the year 2050.