Jongno-gu 'Sustainable Development Basic Plan and Implementation Plan' Progress Review

In response to the prolonged COVID-19 situation causing many projects to be scaled down or temporarily halted, alternative methods such as non-face-to-face transitions are adopted... Projects and indicators are revised and adjusted to fit the current era... Follow-up measures, including addressing issues identified during inspections, will be taken to embed sustainability throughout the Lunar New Year administration.

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Jongno-gu (Mayor Kim Young-jong) has launched a performance review to comprehensively evaluate the efforts made so far to secure efficiency and accountability in the ‘Sustainable Development Implementation Plan,’ which was first implemented last year, aiming to create a sustainable city.

The ‘Basic Plan and Implementation Plan for Sustainable Development (2020?2021)’ was established in December 2019 through discussions involving the Sustainable Development Committee, which includes private experts, and the Sustainable Jongno Policy Participation Group composed of residents.

It consists of 17 Jongno-specific sustainable development goals that add regional characteristics to the UN-adopted goals, 55 detailed targets to achieve them, and 196 unit projects.

Since its establishment, the unexpected prolonged COVID-19 pandemic led to many projects being scaled down or temporarily suspended, but alternative methods such as transitioning to non-face-to-face formats were devised to adjust and reorganize projects and indicators according to the times. As a result, 126 out of the 196 unit projects achieved more than 90% of their targets.

Among these, a total of 105 projects exceeded 100% achievement, including representative projects such as ‘Hygiene management and support for creating healthy food service establishments,’ ‘Support for home-use low-NOx (eco-friendly condensing) boilers,’ and ‘Greening of rooftops and small leftover spaces.’

The district plans to improve and supplement the issues identified for each project during this review process, respond flexibly to various changing conditions, and through follow-up measures after the review, embed sustainability throughout the district administration.

Meanwhile, Jongno-gu laid the foundation by enacting an ordinance on sustainable development and launching a committee in 2018, and established a related implementation system through the creation of a sustainable development division in 2019 and discussions with a policy participation group composed of residents.

In 2020, the district officially launched the ‘Sustainable Development Practice Project’ and has been striving to spread sustainable development values by implementing the nation’s first ‘Eco-friendly Printing Guidelines,’ the ‘1-1-1 Lifestyle Practice Movement’ to reduce one ton of greenhouse gases per person annually, and ‘Reducing Digital Carbon Footprint.’

These efforts bore fruit when the district won the Minister of Environment Award at the ‘2020 Sustainable Development Awards Contest’ hosted by the Ministry of Environment and organized by the National Council for Sustainable Development last year.

Mayor Kim Young-jong stated, “We will create sustainable development measures that anyone can practice and feel in their daily lives to make Jongno a place where not only the current generation but also future generations can be happy.”

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