NEWS: Plaintiffs Build Global Ties at Climate Week NYC 2026!
On Thursday, September 24, plaintiffs Fuyumi Abe, Haruhisa Tokito and Katrin Miyazawa spoke at The New York Academy of Sciences alongside U.S. youth climate plaintiff Delaney Reynolds and Korea youth climate plaintiff Jungwon Kim at the Climate Week NYC event: Youth Climate Case Japan – An International Youth Dialogue.
Comments from Speakers
Katrin Miyazawa, Plaintiff, Youth Climate Case Japan, said:
This event was a wonderful opportunity to learn about climate cases from around the world and to realize how many challenges we share. Even though we come from different countries and legal systems, many of our struggles are very similar. That made me feel a strong connection with the other youth plaintiffs.
We can learn from each other’s experiences, strategies, and successes. The more climate cases succeed, the more examples and legal foundations we create for others to build on. Knowing that we are connected across borders, facing the same global crisis and working to hold governments and companies accountable, gives me a lot of strength and hope.
The words of support we received at the end from attorneys around the world were also incredibly encouraging, especially the reminder that young people have often been the ones pushing society forward and creating change. I am leaving this event feeling even more motivated to keep fighting, to keep believing in change, and to protect not only my own future, but the future we all share.
Fuyumi Abe, Plaintiff, Youth Climate Case Japan, said:
Being on the stage of a Climate Week NYC event allowed me to connect with lawyers and activists from around the world who are taking on the climate crisis. Sharing our individual challenges and common values so deeply with the guest speakers and participants gave me countless insights for my future work.
This experience gave me immense motivation and courage—empowering me to carry this momentum into the future so that everyone around the world can take action against the climate crisis together.
Haruhisa Tokito, Plaintiff, Youth Climate Case Japan, said:
Through this event, I was able to learn about overseas climate litigation and the thoughts of plaintiffs abroad, as well as initiatives and tactics that could be useful in Japan too. Even more than that, by sharing the challenges we’ve faced in our activities and how we overcame them, and by thinking about how we can support one another internationally, I felt that we can make our future activities even stronger.
Solving the climate crisis is a duty that falls on our generation, which has emitted so many greenhouse gases up to now, and I believe that youth climate litigation is a way for us, as key actors, to keep raising our voices and to show hope to future generations.
Having gained such significant international connections through this event, I want to further expand the scope of our activities and create a groundswell in society that the defendants can no longer afford to ignore.
Jungwon Kim, Plaintiff, Youth v. POSCO, Korea, said:
I was struck by how the same key words and themes kept coming up throughout the panel discussion. Although we come from different places, we are all facing systemic problems that will leave a lasting mark on our futures. Even so, everyone stood resilient in the face of power and believed in our own ability to create change.
As an international student studying climate in the United States, I have found the recent political climate very discouraging. Connecting with like-minded people from all over the world through this session was refreshing and gave me new strength.
Delaney Reynolds, Plaintiff, Reynolds v. Florida Public Service Commission, said:
Before this panel, I understood youth climate litigation as part of a growing international movement, but hearing directly from plaintiffs in Japan and South Korea made that idea feel far more immediate and personal. I left reminded that, even across different countries and legal systems, we are confronting the same fundamental question of who bears responsibility for a crisis young people did not create but will inherit.
I encourage the Japanese plaintiffs to stay persistent because your case matters beyond the outcome of any single hearing and by stepping forward, you are helping expand what courts, governments, and the world beyond are willing to imagine as possible.
