‘Climate goals too modest’

Take Mother Nature seriously: Han Jeah posing while holding her closing argument outside the Constitutional Court in Seoul, ahead of the final public hearing of a climate lawsuit against the South Korean government, in which she is a plaintiff. — AFP

WHEN he was a 20-week-old embryo – before he even had a real name – Choi Hee-woo became one of the world’s youngest-ever plaintiffs by joining a groundbreaking climate lawsuit against South Korea.

His case, known as “Woodpecker et al. vs. South Korea” after Choi’s in utero nickname, seeks to prove Seoul’s modest climate goals – reducing carbon emissions by 40% of 2018 levels by 2030 – are a violation of their constitutionally guaranteed human rights.