The pensioners and babies behind a new era of climate lawsuits

Two-year-old Heewoo does not know it yet, but later this month he will become one of the most important plaintiffs in the rapidly emerging field of climate litigation. South Korea’s Constitutional Court is expected to hear from April 23 a legal challenge to the country’s progress on climate goals which has been brought on behalf of 62 babies and small children. The so-called baby climate case, launched by parents and expectant mothers in 2022, was filed under the name Woodpecker, the nickname given to Heewoo at the time when he was still a foetus and the youngest member of the group. The South Korean hearing comes after Europe’s top human rights court ruled in favour this week of more than 2,000 women aged 64 and over when it said that the Swiss government’s failure to cut carbon emissions was a violation of citizens’ rights. The judgment was handed down just days after the publication of another landmark verdict by India’s Supreme Court, which established that a clean and healthy ...