Japan govt sued over ‘unconstitutional’ climate inaction

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In 2025, Japan sweltered through its hottest summer since records began in 1898.

PHOTO: AFP

TOKYO - Hundreds of people across Japan sued the central government on Dec 18 seeking damages for “unconstitutional” inaction on climate change, the country’s first such litigation.

The landmark lawsuit criticises Japan’s “grossly inadequate” fight against the climate crisis, saying it jeopardises the health and livelihoods of the approximately 450 plaintiffs.

“We just submitted our complaint and evidence to the court and our lawsuit has been officially accepted,” lead lawyer Akihiro Shima told AFP.

Plaintiff Kiichi Akiyama, a construction worker, said that relentless heat forced his team to work slower, causing “huge losses” to his business.

There have also been cases where “people collapse out in the field, or have dropped dead after they return home”, the 57-year-old said.

In the past, five climate-related lawsuits have been filed with Japanese courts, including against coal-fired power plants, said Kyoto University assistant professor Masako Ichihara, who has followed such cases in the country.

But Prof Ichihara as well as lawyers working on the suit – say this is the first compensation claim against the state over climate change.

“The defendant’s climate change measures are grossly inadequate, and as a result, the plaintiffs’ rights to a peaceful life and to the enjoyment of a stable climate are being violated,” said the complaint summary, which was obtained by AFP ahead of the filing.

In 2025, Japan sweltered through its hottest summer since records began in 1898, and the plaintiffs argue such heatwaves cause economic losses, ruin crops and put many at risk of crippling heatstroke.

Mr Akiyama, who