Gwangju City Achieves 1.7 Billion KRW Revenue Through Greenhouse Gas Reduction Efforts

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 7th that as a result of operating the second plan period (2018?2020) of the “Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading System” in the environmental basic facility waste sector, it reduced 113,000 tons of greenhouse gases and generated profits worth 1.7 billion KRW.

During this period, Gwangju was allocated 732,000 tons of greenhouse gas emission allowances but emitted only about 85%, allowing it to sell the reduced amount externally.

The “Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading System” is a system implemented since 2015 that allocates emission allowances annually to companies emitting greenhouse gases; if a company emits more than its allowance, it must purchase additional allowances, and if less, it can sell the surplus.

The target institutions include 685 companies such as industrial facilities and local governments, with 47 local governments, including Gwangju, designated and operating the system.

The facilities subject to Gwangju include 14 environmental basic facilities such as landfills, food waste treatment plants, sewage treatment plants, manure treatment plants, and water purification plants. Various efforts have been made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by improving processes and introducing renewable energy (solar power generation and biogas fuel).

In the case of the First Sewage Treatment Plant, biogas (methane) generated in the digester was recovered to replace LNG, the heat source for the sludge drying facility, securing greenhouse gas emission allowances. The metropolitan sanitary landfill secured emission allowances through a landfill gas resource recovery project that collects landfill gas to generate electricity.

Gwangju plans to sell 88,000 tons through the greenhouse gas emissions trading market by June, after going through the shared property review committee and approval procedures for the shared property management plan, and after the government’s certification process is completed.

Song Yong-su, head of the Climate Environment Policy Division of the city, said, “Through multifaceted process improvements at the workplace, we reduced greenhouse gas emissions and generated profits. We will continue to do our best to realize a carbon-neutral city by 2045 through process improvements and the introduction of new technologies that can reduce greenhouse gases.”

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