Seoul City Councilor Song Myeong-hwa Revises 'Seoul City Treasury Designation and Operation Ordinance'... Adds Green Finance Implementation Performance

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] The amendment to the Seoul Metropolitan Government Ordinance on the Designation and Operation of Seoul Treasury, proposed by Seoul City Council member Song Myeong-hwa (photo, Democratic Party of Korea, Gangdong District 3rd Constituency), passed the plenary session of the 300th extraordinary meeting on May 4.

The amendment proposed by Councilor Song requires that when Seoul selects its treasury, it reflects whether financial institutions have declared divestment from coal and their implementation performance, in response to the climate crisis and environmental changes.

This is to promote their social responsibility investments.

After Councilor Song proposed the ordinance, through opinions from the Seoul city department in charge and deliberations by the Administrative Autonomy Committee, it was revised and approved to add "green finance implementation performance," including coal divestment and membership in international green finance initiatives, as a criterion.

The main content of this amendment is to reflect financial institutions' green finance implementation performance (such as coal divestment declarations and implementation records, membership in international green finance initiatives) in the evaluation criteria when designating the treasury.

Until now, the criteria for designating the treasury mainly focused on financial institutions' creditworthiness, stability, deposit interest rates, citizen convenience, and management capability. By adding the implementation of green finance by financial institutions, it aims to give preferential treatment to green finance in treasury designation, which is also an extension of Seoul's climate change response policy.

Councilor Song Myeong-hwa has continuously discussed with stakeholders such as the Seoul Youth Policy Network, Seoul City Finance Bureau, Climate and Environment Headquarters, and the City Council Legislative Officer to work on amending the treasury ordinance.

The next selection of Seoul's treasury will take place in 2022, and from the treasury selection next year, green finance implementation performance will be reflected due to this amendment.

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