Hong Nam-ki Attends First Climate Action Finance Ministers Meeting... "Climate Response Must Be Prevented from Being Exploited as Protectionism"

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Hong Nam-ki is attending the 'Climate Action Finance Ministers Alliance Meeting' held via video conference on the 6th at the Government Seoul Office in Gwanghwamun, Seoul.

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] On the 6th, Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, attended the Climate Action Finance Ministers' Alliance ministerial meeting and emphasized the need to prevent countries' economic climate change response policies from being exploited as protectionism.

According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Korea joined the Climate Action Finance Ministers' Alliance on this day to actively participate in discussions among finance ministers of the international community on climate finance, carbon pricing policies, and other climate change issues. Deputy Prime Minister Hong attended the ministerial meeting held via video conference. The Climate Action Finance Ministers' Alliance is a representative consultative body of finance ministers from major countries to promote climate action discussions, established in April 2019, with a total of 60 countries including Korea, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan as members.

The member countries discussed through three sessions: ▲Measures to promote low-carbon transition and economic recovery (Session 1) ▲Cooperation between finance ministries and central banks for climate risk management (Session 2) ▲Progress on decarbonization with key stakeholders (Session 3). In his remarks during Session 1, Deputy Prime Minister Hong stressed, "Since economic climate change response policies such as carbon pricing and carbon border adjustment have significant impacts on other countries, it is important to prevent these policies from being exploited as protectionism and to establish policies that benefit all countries through close international cooperation among finance tracks."

He emphasized the importance of Green Recovery policies that directly link climate change response efforts with economic stimulus and job creation, and introduced Korea's Green New Deal policy. In the same context, he also called for member countries' participation and interest in the '2nd P4G Summit' to be held in Seoul this May under the theme of 'Realizing Carbon Neutral Vision through Inclusive Green Recovery.'

Deputy Prime Minister Hong suggested that the participation of developing countries is essential for climate change response and that efforts to support developing countries' transition to a low-carbon economy should be strengthened. Furthermore, as this year marks the first year of the Paris Agreement's implementation, he mentioned the need to continue international efforts to reach a prompt agreement on the Paris Agreement implementation rules.

Meanwhile, the meeting was attended by 60 alliance member countries, invited non-member countries including China, and major international organizations such as the World Bank (WB), International Monetary Fund (IMF), and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The meeting is usually held three times a year. Following this first meeting held this year, the co-chairs changed from Finland and Chile to Finland and Indonesia. The next meeting is scheduled for October 2021, with the date yet to be determined.

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