In a first, all six winners of the Goldman Environmental Award this year are women. From left are Iroro Tanshi from Nigeria, Kim Borim from Korea, Alannah Acaq Hurley from the U.S., Yuvelis Morales Blanco from Colombia, Theonila Roka Matbob from Papua New Guinea and Sarah Finch from the U.K. (Goldman Environmental Foundation)

By Charles Audouin

Climate activist Kim Borim, who won the first climate lawsuit led by youth in Asia, has earned the Goldman Environmental Prize.

The San Francisco-based Goldman Environmental Foundation on April 21 announced its annual awards for six winners including Kim.

Dubbed the "Green Nobel Prize," the honor goes to environmental activists in six major regions of the world.

Kim was this year's winner for Asia and the second Korean to win the prize since Choi Yul did so in 1995 as head of the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement.

The lawsuit filed by Youth 4 Climate Action, Kim's organization, led to the Constitutional Court ruling that the government’s failure to set greenhouse gas reduction targets for 2031–49 constituted a violation of environmental rights.

The verdict spurred the launch of legally binding targets for greenhouse gas reduction for 2031-49 to fulfill the 2050 objective of carbon neutrality. In November last year, a national target was finalized to slash greenhouse gas emissions 53%-61% by 2035 from 2018 levels.

caudouin@korea.kr