Bringing climate crimes to court: Activists put states, companies on mock trial

Pickets depicting extinct species, with words written in different languages meaning comrades, are scattered during a mock trial by the Court for Intergenerational Climate Crisis at Gwangju Museum of Art, April 9, during Gwangju Biennale. Courtesy of Youth Climate Emergency Action

By Cho Hye-yoon

The Korean government and companies stand as the defendants at a mock trial for violating the rights of past, present and future generations through their commercial activities.

No gavel is put in order, no bench is prepared for judges and no witnesses are boxed. At the courtroom, the public jury instead sits in an arena-like immersive installation comprised of military frontlines, sandbags, oil barrels and barbed wire. They are surrounded by wooden pickets of images representing extinct animals, plants and ammonite fossils ― a sobering reminder of non-human witnesses to the impacts of the climate crisis.

It was a mock trial by the Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes (CICC), organized by a group of climate activists, on April 9 during the Gwangju Biennale.

"These creatures were present as our ancestors who disappeared after colonization began 500 years ago," said Radha D'Souza, the lawyer who organized the climate tribunal. "And the war of extinction continues to this day."

Presented by the Dutch art organization Framer Framed at the Dutch Pavilion in the Gwangju Museum of Art at the biennale, the CICC held a three-day tribunal performance organized by Indian academic, writer, lawyer and activist D'Souza and Dutch artist Jonas Staal, and curated by Cho Ju-hyun, the curatorial director of ARKO International Arts Joint Fund for 2021-2022 Korea-Netherlands International Exchange Program.

From April 7 to 9, the "prosecutors" and "witnesses" from activist organizations testified to the role of the Korean government and companies in perpetuating climate war crimes ― according to D'Souza and Staal, the climate crisis itself is a war waged against living worlds. The public was invited as a jury, tasked with passing a verdict based on the Intergenerational Climate Crimes Act, enacted by D'Souza in 2021.

On the last day of the trial, the court heard complaints brought by witnesses against companies such as Doosan and POSCO and the Korean Ministry of Strategy and Finance. Witnesses included Kim Ji-young, an activist from Committee Against Samcheok Coal-Fired Power Plant (CASCPP), and activists Hyun So-young and Kang Eun-bin from Youth Climate Emergency Action. They testified regarding the impacts of coal power plant construction on humans and nature in Samcheok in Korea, and Ha Tinh Province in Vietnam. The judges were D'Souza, Ryu Jung-hwa, a public interest lawyer, and Ji Hyun-young, an environmental lawyer.

Hyun So-young from Youth Climate Emergency Action speaks as a witness during the Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes trial at the Netherlands Pavilion of Gwangju Biennale, April 9. Courtesy of Youth Climate Emergency Action

The first witness, Hyun, kicked off the hearing by prefacing that "at the center of the extinction wars and climate crisis, are corporations that emit vast amounts of greenhouse gases. We are here to bring charges against POSCO and Doosan, to seek justice for the lands and communities they have harmed, and indict the governments that tolerate these unjust acts."

Hyun claimed that in contrast to their pledge for sustainable futures, Doosan and POSCO continue to build new emission-intensive coal power plants here and abroad, exacerbating the climate crisis further.

Pointing to a loophole in emissions regulations, Hyun said, "Greenhouse gases from the construction and operation of overseas coal plants are not considered the emissions of domestic companies, and this is why Doosan's profit-making has relied on overseas coal power projects for more than 80 percent of its earnings, for five years from 2016."

"Meanwhile, Vung Ang-2 coal power plant in Vietnam, built by Doosan and POSCO, is projected to emit about 180 million tons of greenhouse gases over the 25 years of its operation, an amount equivalent to the Netherlands' annual greenhouse gas emissions," Hyun said.

Kim Ji-young from Committee Against Samcheok Coal-Fired Plant, speaks during the Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes trial at the Netherlands Pavilion of Gwangju Biennale, April 9. Courtesy of Youth Climate Emergency Action

The second witness, Kim from the CASCPP who is a resident of Samcheok, came up to the podium. Kim told the story of her coastal hometown Samcheok in Gangwon Province, where "more than two-thirds of the population lives within a 5-kilometer radius of the newly built POSCO's Blue Power coal plant."

Citing a 2021 poll that surveyed Samcheok residents' opinions on the coal plant, Kim explained that 60 percent of residents opposed the construction of the plant and almost 70 percent worried about health and environmental harms the plant may bring, such as air pollution caused by fine dust emitted from the coal plant. Emphasizing that the Blue Power coal plant is just one example of energy colonialism in Korea, Kim said the production and consumption of energy often come at the expense of the health of local communities and the coastal ecosystem.

Kang Eun-bin from Youth Climate Emergency Action speaks during the Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes trial at the Netherlands Pavilion of Gwangju Biennale, April 9. Courtesy of Youth Climate Emergency Action

The third witness, Kang from Youth Climate Emergency Action, claimed Korea's export of coal power plants to Vietnam resembles the deployment of Korean troops during the Vietnam War. By referring to the concept of "ecocide," a term first coined during the Vietnam War to describe the impacts of deadly herbicides that continue to poison the land and people in Vietnam even after the war, Kang said, "With the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, and the National Assembly turning a blind eye to corporations' polluting activities, environmental and social destruction are justified."

Lee Eun-ho of Youth Climate Emergency Action, who represented Doosan for the tribunal performance, said, "I almost teared up while listening to these poignant stories. However, speaking on behalf of Doosan, there is no proven scientific correlation between the climate crisis and the operation of coal power plants. However, as a group recognized for its ESG and green credentials, Doosan will continue to develop innovative technologies for a greener future."

Radha D'Souza, center, the lawyer who organized the Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes, delivers the result of the trial at the Dutch Pavilion of Gwangju Biennale, April 9. Courtesy of Youth Climate Emergency Action

Before the jury voted, judge D'Souza called on the jury to reflect upon the relationship between law, rights and justice, as well as what it means to witness hearings of environmental and climate injustice outside of the parameters of existing legal proceedings.

"Before you vote, think about the law outside of this court as well. Would you allow the law that gives a justificatory alibi for corporations and governments to destroy the environment first, and then compensate for the harm after the damage already has been inflicted?" she asked.

After the hearings, the majority of the jury voted to convict Doosan, POSCO, and the finance ministry. Judge D'Souza said, "Doosan, POSCO and the Ministry of Strategy and Finance of the Republic of Korea are guilty under Section 3 of the Intergenerational Climate Crimes Act."

According to Section 3, "intergenerational climate crime is committed when a group of persons acting as a single legal person in the name of a 'legal entity' engage in acts that harm relationships of mutual dependence and reciprocity between species or within species, human or non-human and affect local climate patterns."

The courtroom is open to visitors to the biennale through July 30. The video recordings of the three-day trial will be posted on Framer Framed's YouTube channel. The CICC tribunal was inaugurated by Framer Framed in Amsterdam in 2021 to indict the Dutch government and transnational corporations registered in the country, such as Unilever, ING and Airbus, for climate crimes.

Cho Hye-yoon (hyeyoon.cho@mail.mcgill.ca) is an intern reporter at The Korea Times.