Youth demand 'climate receipt' from president, urge early carbon cuts

Youth activists in South Korea are demanding the government prioritize early carbon emission reductions, criticizing a recent parliamentary decision that they say delays climate action and burdens future generations. Members of the Youth Climate Council and 27 other civic groups gathered outside the presidential office, holding a "Climate Receipt" symbolizing the unquantifiable damages of climate change.

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Climate crisis threatens not only the daily lives of youth but also their future lives. Young people are contemplating whether having children is a choice for the children. Please keep the president's promise to establish responsible carbon reduction goals for future generations.

The receipt listed "hundreds of trillions" in heatwave damages, "immeasurable" food crises, and "5% of national territory submerged" by rising sea levels. The groups urged the government to responsibly implement its "carbon-neutral long-term reduction roadmap considering future generations" and to officially propose an "early reduction path."

This protest follows the National Assembly's Special Committee on Climate Change's decision to pass a revised climate change law that adopts a linear reduction path for greenhouse gas emissions. This choice contrasts with the findings of a citizen deliberation committee, where 78% of participants supported an "early reduction path" to lessen the burden on future generations.

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This linear reduction path ultimately postpones the burden of reduction. It is a result that ignores the intention of the Constitutional Court's decision and the social consensus of the citizens.

"This linear reduction path ultimately postpones the burden of reduction," the groups stated, calling the decision a disregard for constitutional court rulings and public consensus. Jung Min-ju, a youth representative from the international youth environmental group 'C02gether,' expressed doubt about the sincerity of public consultations, questioning if they were merely "for show." She emphasized that establishing an early reduction path is the "minimum duty" to future generations born into the climate crisis.

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Seeing the government's passive attitude towards the early reduction path, I wonder if the public consultation was not just for show. Establishing an early reduction path is the minimum duty for future generations born in the era of climate crisis.

Kim So-yoon, a youth committee member for the Presidential Commission on Climate Crisis Response, likened delaying policies to "not paying for groceries and telling the next person to pay." She warned that the cost of delayed reductions would return as a "climate receipt," with the amount doubling over time. The activists concluded by delivering a letter to the presidential office outlining their demands, urging President Lee Jae-myung to honor his pledge.

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It is no different from saying 'the next person will pay' when calculating groceries at the mart. The later the reduction, the more the cost will return to us in the form of a climate receipt, and as time passes, the receipt (amount) will double.