Constitutional Court rules carbon neutrality act fails to protect rights with lack of reduction goals

The Constitutional Court on Thursday ruled that the nation's carbon neutrality law is not conforming to the Constitution for failing to sufficiently protect people's basic rights due to the absence of any greenhouse gas reduction goal after 2031.

The Constitutional Court on Thursday ruled that the nation's carbon neutrality law is not conforming to the Constitution for failing to sufficiently protect people's basic rights due to the absence of any greenhouse gas reduction goal after 2031.

The court unanimously made the constitutional nonconformity ruling for Article 8, Paragraph 1 of the carbon neutrality law, saying it does not present any quantitative greenhouse gas reduction target for 2031 to 2049.

The law, whose official name is the Framework Act on Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth for Coping with Climate Crisis, stipulates in the clause in question that the government shall set a national medium- and long-term greenhouse gas emission 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 government has also vowed to cut national greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2030 compared with the 2018 levels but has not set any targets thereafter.

But the court said the government's failure to set a greenhouse gas reduction target after 2031 violates people's basic rights. In other words, the court acknowledges that the government's inadequate response to the climate crisis could lead to the violation of people's basic rights. It is the first decision of its kind in Asia.

The court issued the verdict in constitutional petitions filed by civic activists and children, who claimed the government's "insufficient" response to climate crisis infringes upon people's basic rights.

The court, however, dismissed parts of the petitions, saying the government's greenhouse gas reduction target set for until 2030 does not violate the people's basic rights.

Following the decision of constitutional nonconformity, the concerned legal provision will remain in effect only until Feb. 28, 2026. The government and the National Assembly should establish stronger climate measures by the revision deadline in consideration of the Constitutional Court's ruling.

Yonhap