- On 22 April 2026, KTNC Watch and Green Korea Legal Center submitted a complaint under Section 14 Paragraph 1 No. 2 of the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG) against Siemens Energy.
- The complaint was submitted on behalf of three local residents affected by the Shinheung Wind Power Project in Muan County, South Jeolla Province, Republic of Korea, where onshore wind turbines were constructed as close as 280 metres from the nearest residential building.
- Local residents opposed the project from the earliest stages, raising concerns about environmental degradation and the health effects of low frequency noise and vibrations from the turbines. However, the project proceeded without their free, informed and prior consent.
- Since the turbines became operational in December 2022, residents have been constantly exposed to low-frequency noise, ambient noise and “shadow flicker”, which caused adverse health effects including headaches, nausea, insomnia and tinnitus.
- “Turbine blade shadows come into my room and make me nauseous,” says a resident living 280 metres from the nearest turbine. “Even after I come home, I can still hear the noise from the turbines which keeps ringing in my ears, and I cannot sleep well. Sometimes I can only sleep for only two hours, so I have been taking sleeping pills.”
- Siemens Energy (then Siemens Gamesa) supplied the turbines for the project and, in April 2021, their Korean subsidiary signed a contract to operate and maintain the turbines, with a guaranteed rate of operation for 25 years, the performance of which was guaranteed by the parent company, despite the close proximity of the turbines to residential areas and existing local media reports highlighting the concerns and opposition from local residents.
- The German Supply Chain Act, entered into force January 2023, requires Germany companies with more than 1,000 employees to conduct due diligence on human rights, labour and environmental risks in their supply chains, and in the case of violations, the supervisory body may impose sanctions such as corrective orders, exclusion from public procurement and administrative fines.
- Since the German Supply Chain Act entered into force, there have been growing cases of companies who engage with affected individuals and provide remedy. After trade unions and CSOs submitted a complaint against four supermarkets regarding the exploitation of banana plantation workers in Ecuador and Costa Rica, negotiations took place and led to some improvements in working conditions.
- In the Korean National Assembly, there are currently two bills tabled that introduce mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence requirements for large companies.
- “The villagers deeply understand the need for the transition to renewable energy in the face of the climate crisis. This is because farmers, who have long depended on the climate for their livelihoods, are the ones most severely affected by the climate crisis,” says Jong-Chul Kim from KTNC Watch. “Paradoxically, however, farmers who have already been made vulnerable by the climate crisis are becoming even more vulnerable as a result of efforts to address it. While reckless development has caused the climate crisis, renewable energy now risks becoming yet another industry that merely serves the greed of a select few. A just transition is essential, also to ensure a rapid energy transition.”
- KTNC Watch and Green Korea Legal Center call on Siemens Energy to take responsible measures in response to this complaint. We also emphasise that the transition to renewable energy must be a just transition that respects human rights, the environment, and labour.
