Hwang Seong-yeol stood at the edge of a golden field, watching nervously as a combine harvester crawled through his rice, churning up mud and stalks.

Its steady hum filled the damp autumn air as grain poured into a truck waiting at the other end of the muddy paddy.

It was the final day of what Hwang said was one of his toughest seasons in three decades of farming.

He and other farmers feel helpless against increasingly erratic weather that they link to climate change and damage to their crops.

It has complicated their work and cast uncertainty over their futures.

Hwang is one of five South Korean farmers who recently sued the state utility Korea Electric Power Corporation and its power-generating subsidiaries, alleging that their reliance on coal and other fossil fuels has accelerated climate change and damaged their crops.

The lawsuit raises questions about whether power companies’ role in driving climate change, and the resulting agricultural losses, can be quantified.

It is the first of its kind in South Korea, said Yeny Kim, a lawyer with the Seoul-based nonprofit Solutions for Our Climate, who is handling the case.

The case underscores the challenges South Korea, a manufacturing power that industrialized long after the Western nations now pressuring others to abandon fossil fuels, faces in transitioning to cleaner energy.

In an annual climate report in April, South Korea’s government detailed how a year of extreme weather events in 2024, the country’s hottest year ever, triggered a series of “agricultural disasters” of heavy summer rains that destroyed thousands of hectares (acres) of cropland, followed by weeks of intense heat that wrecked still more crops, mostly rice.

Kim and her colleagues decided to file the lawsuit, which represents plaintiffs from across South Korea, after speaking with Hwang and others at farmers markets.

They say KEPCO, which holds a monopoly on electricity transmission and fully owns its subsidiaries, should bear some blame for the destabilized weather, citing what they say are excessive carbon emissions and a lagging transition to renewable energy.

From 2011-2022, the companies produced about 30% of South Korea’s greenhouse gas emissions and roughly 0.4% of global emissions, based on Kim's analysis of publicly available data.

The lawsuit seeks initial damage claims of 5 million won ($3,400) per client, an amount likely to be adjusted as the case proceeds.

The plaintiffs are also symbolically seeking 2,035 won ($1.4) each to urge the government to phase out coal power plants by 2035, ahead of its 2040 target.

Renewable energy accounted for only 10.5% of the national energy mix in 2024, and the five KEPCO subsidiaries relied on coal for more than 71% of the electricity they produced that year, according to government data.

KEPCO told The Associated Press it considers carbon reduction a key responsibility, citing its goal of cutting emissions 40% by 2030 from 2018 levels.

But it declined to comment further on the lawsuit, saying it “cannot share information that could influence the verdict.”

AP video shot by Yong-ho Kim