(Bloomberg) -- South Korea’s absence of incremental climate goals for the years between 2030 and 2050 doesn’t conform with the country’s constitution, a court ruled after activists mounted against a case against government emission reduction plans.
The Asian nation’s climate law aims to cut emissions 40% from 2018 levels by 2030 before zeroing them out in 2050. But the lack of targets between those years violates the principle of prohibition of insufficient protection, the Constitutional Court of Korea said in a landmark ruling that requires the government to set new objectives.
The nation’s Ministry of Environment said in a statement that it respects the court decision, and will come up with follow-up plans to respond to the ruling.
The lack of any targets from 2031 to 2049 fails to guarantee a gradual and continuous reduction of emissions, and therefore shifts an excessive burden to the future, the court ruled. The government has until February 2026 to amend the law to include plans beyond 2030, according to the ruling.
Governments around the world, including South Korea, are required under United Nations climate rules to submit emissions goals for 2035 by early next year. Thursday’s court ruling means Korea will also have to work on plans well beyond then.
The ruling on Thursday was delivered on four climate litigation cases filed since 2020 by more than 250 plaintiffs, mostly young people, who sued the government claiming the nation’s climate goal doesn’t go far enough to protect their fundamental rights.
Read also: Lawsuits Targeting ‘Climate Washing’ Becoming More Frequent
Climate litigation has become a crucial part of the toolkit to hold companies and governments to account for their climate promises, and to boost action to slow global warming — with varying degrees of success.
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