Green Growth Committee Holds 'On-Tact Public Debate'... "Leading Carbon Neutrality"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] The Green Growth Committee under the Prime Minister announced on the 23rd that it held a public forum titled 'Carbon Neutral Society in Response to the Climate Crisis: Local Governments Changing the Republic of Korea.'

This forum was organized to share the experiences of local governments that have set their own carbon neutrality goals and are leading the Green New Deal, and to discuss policy directions for realizing a carbon-neutral society in the future.

In the first keynote presentation, Yujin Lee of the Green Committee presented six priority tasks including the '2050 Carbon Neutral Roadmap Establishment,' proposing concrete implementation plans such as a greenhouse gas reduction evaluation system, electricity tariff fuel cost linkage system, and the introduction of a dedicated organization for offshore wind power site selection.

Additionally, Yongseong Cho, President of the Korea Energy Economics Institute, diagnosed obstacles to the Korean Green New Deal in his second keynote presentation and made policy recommendations on the direction of the Korean Green New Deal, including strengthening the power grid for smooth renewable energy utilization and establishing a real-time electricity trading market.

From local governments, Heeryong Won, Governor of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, announced policy directions for the next decade's 'Green New Deal Frontier Jeju' based on the successful 'Carbon-Free Island 2030' policy, including electricity trading liberalization, expansion of green hydrogen use, ban on internal combustion engine vehicle registration, and hosting COP28.

Yongseop Lee, Mayor of Gwangju Metropolitan City, pledged to actively implement the transition to a low-carbon economy such as citizen participation governance, green industries, and promote the 'Gwangju-type Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Green New Deal' to transform into a '2045 Energy Self-Reliant City' five years ahead of others.

Lastly, Hongjang Kim, Mayor of Dangjin City, introduced past efforts such as the first declaration of a climate crisis emergency by a basic local government and the construction of the Dangjin Eco Power solar power plant, and expressed aspirations for Dangjin as a special energy transition city by 2050 with citizens through the promotion of the Dangjin-type Green New Deal, including the creation of RE100 industrial complexes and convergence complexes.

In the subsequent talk concert, future tasks for achieving carbon neutrality in local governments and the revolutionary expansion of renewable energy dissemination were discussed.

Opinions were presented that a step-by-step liberalization of electricity trading is essential for the transition from the existing large-scale centralized system to a small-scale distributed energy system, and there was consensus on the need to strengthen the responsibilities and authority of local governments by introducing a 'comprehensive budget system' that considers regional autonomy so that the Green New Deal centered on basic local governments can be strongly promoted.

Kim Jungwook, a private member of the Green Growth Committee, said in his welcoming remarks, "I hope today's forum will serve as a good reference for other local governments and be a good guide for our country to move toward a carbon-neutral society," adding, "The Green Committee will also strive to ensure that the proposals from today's forum are well reflected in policies through cooperation with relevant ministries."

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