Civic groups hold a press conference in front of the Constitutional Court in central Seoul on April 23, 2024, ahead of the first public hearing on petitions against the government’s “insufficient” response to climate change. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, April 23 (Korea Bizwire) – The Constitutional Court held its first public hearing Tuesday on petitions filed by an adolescents’ group and others against what they called the government’s insufficient response to climate change.
The widely watched hearing came four years after the adolescents’ civic group, Youth 4 Climate Action, first lodged a constitutional petition in 2020, claiming the government’s weak climate crisis response infringes upon people’s basic rights.
Three similar petitions were subsequently filed by a civic group and young children, prompting the Constitutional Court to combine the cases for integrated deliberation.
The petitioners argue that the country’s carbon neutrality act targeting a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 from 2018 levels disregards the government’s duties to protect people’s basic rights, such as constitutionally guaranteed environmental rights and the right to life.
They claim that the act, its related ordinance and implementation plan fall short of the state duties laid out in the Paris Agreement and other international treaties to restrict the level of global warming by less than 1.5 C.
As the public hearing began, Constitutional Court chief Lee Jong-seok said the main point of debate in this case lies in whether the government’s greenhouse gas reduction target is so insufficient that it would infringe upon the petitioners’ basic rights, such as environmental rights.
He stressed that the recent ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, which found the Swiss government’s insufficient response to climate change to be in violation of people’s basic rights, has drawn keen media attention in South Korea.
“Recognizing the importance of the case and the public’s attention, the court will faithfully deliberate,” Lee noted.
In a press conference held ahead of the hearing, the petitioning civic groups emphasized people’s constitutional rights to live in a stable climate and said that safeguarding people’s basic rights is the most important duty of a nation.
“The Constitutional Court’s role is more important than ever at a time the National Assembly and the government’s failure to properly respond to climate change is resulting in basic right violations of the people and next generations,” an activist said.
(Yonhap)
