More than 100 people aged 50 or older filed a petition with the state human rights watchdog Wednesday, claiming the government is neglecting its duties to come up with measures to protect the elderly from climate change.
The 60+ Climate Action and the Solutions for Our Climate, environmental groups leading the petition, said the average age of a total of 123 petitioners is 63 years old, with the oldest participant aged 92.
“We are filing a complaint that older adults’ constitutional right to life and happiness is not being protected and call for a change in government policy,” the groups said during a press conference in front of the National Human Rights Commission.
“Unless greenhouse gas emissions are effectively reduced, the damage will only get worse,” they said.
They also claimed the government has never conducted a fact-finding study into the dangers the vulnerable class, including the elderly, is facing from climate change.
“The climate crisis, such as frequent heat waves, torrential rain and col
d waves are becoming a reality, and yet the government has not come up with even basic policies for the elderly,” the groups said.
They also urged the government to raise the country’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals for 2030 set under the enforcement decree of the Act on Low Carbon, Green Growth.
Over 68.5 percent of the deaths from heat-related illnesses from 2011 to 2020 were those aged over 65, according to a report by the environment ministry in 2020.
Source: Yonhap News Agency