Seoul 'Eco Mileage' Members Reduce 164,000 tCO₂ Greenhouse Gas Emissions in First Half of Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] In the past six months, more than 2.13 million Eco Mileage members, accounting for over 20% of Seoul citizens, have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 163,818tCO₂ (tons of carbon dioxide) through saving energy such as electricity and city gas.

Seoul City announced that according to the evaluation results of the '2020 First Half Autonomous District Eco Mileage Promotion Project,' from October last year to March this year, Eco Mileage members reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 85,033 tCO₂, 77,642 tCO₂, and 1,143 tCO₂ through saving city gas, electricity, and water respectively. The total amounts to 163,818 tCO₂.

Compared to two years ago, the 25 districts of Seoul reduced greenhouse gas emissions by an average of about 3%, with Mapo-gu reducing the most at 5.9% among the districts.

In particular, during the first half (October 2019 to March 2020), 3,407 buildings with high energy consumption such as energy-intensive business sites, apartment complexes, and mixed-use residential-commercial buildings achieved a reduction of 48,767 tCO₂ in greenhouse gases. This accounts for 29.8% of the total greenhouse gas reduction.

Additionally, during this period, 39,788 individual members and 4,004 business organizations newly joined the Eco Mileage program to participate in energy saving.

Seoul City plans to hold a competition for apartment complexes targeting all 4,180 sites in the Seoul area, including 773 sites that have not joined Eco Mileage among energy-intensive business sites in the second half of this year, and will promote energy saving and Eco Mileage membership through collaboration with the Korea Energy Agency and autonomous districts.

Meanwhile, according to the evaluation results of the Eco Mileage promotion project by autonomous districts for the first half of this year, six districts including Dobong, Jungnang, Guro, Gangbuk, Jongno, and Yangcheon were selected as the best autonomous districts based on comprehensive evaluation including membership performance, member information management, and promotion. Seven districts including Gwanak, Dongjak, Gangnam, Mapo, Gangdong, Geumcheon, and Songpa were selected as excellent autonomous districts.

The city plans to provide incentives of 15.5 million KRW each to the best autonomous districts (16.5 million KRW for first place Dobong-gu) and 8 million KRW each to the excellent autonomous districts.

Kim Yeon-ji, head of the Energy Citizen Cooperation Division of Seoul City, said, "One out of five citizens is actively participating in reducing greenhouse gas emissions through Eco Mileage," and added, "We will expand and develop this system to promote an efficient energy consumption culture and develop it into citizen-centered action for the transition to a carbon-zero society."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.