'Climate Crisis Response' Seoul City Collaborates with General Hospitals... 19 Hospitals Among Top Energy Users

Meeting with 5 Major Hospitals... Cooperation in Participating in City Policies such as Low-Carbon Buildings and Renewable Energy
Samsung Seoul Hospital Introduces 39.4MW Water Source Heat, Asan Hospital Participates in 'Building Greenhouse Gas Cap System'

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul City announced on the 13th that it will actively cooperate with major general hospitals to respond to the climate crisis by expanding low-carbon buildings, increasing electric vehicle chargers, reducing waste and air pollutant emissions, and installing renewable energy. The plan is to actively involve general hospitals, which are representative high-energy-consuming workplaces, to discover cooperative tasks and jointly establish an efficient climate crisis response system.

According to the 2020 Seoul City High Energy Consumption Building Status announced by Seoul City, 19 hospitals are included among the top 100 buildings in annual energy use. The annual energy consumption of these hospitals is approximately 240,000 TOE, and greenhouse gas emissions amount to about 480,000 tons. This accounts for 19.8% of the greenhouse gas emissions from the top 100 high-energy-consuming workplaces.

In May, Seoul City held a meeting with five general hospitals to request active cooperation for climate crisis response and to hear on-site opinions. The participating general hospitals were △Seoul National University Hospital, △Seoul Asan Medical Center, △Samsung Medical Center, △Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, and △Yonsei University Medical Center.

The general hospitals attending the meeting expressed that as public interest in climate change has recently increased, ESG management is spreading within hospitals, and they are willing to cooperate in responding to the climate crisis with a strong sense of social responsibility.

To reduce energy use in buildings, the city plans to actively promote building energy efficiency projects with general hospitals by providing interest-free loans covering 80-100% of construction costs and introducing renewable energy such as geothermal and hydrothermal energy.

Seoul Asan Medical Center and Samsung Medical Center’s 15 buildings plan to participate in the introduction of the ‘Building Greenhouse Gas Cap System,’ which sets and manages appropriate greenhouse gas emission levels for buildings. The city will analyze energy usage of participating buildings, establish standard emission levels according to building types, and propose customized greenhouse gas reduction technologies.

Additionally, general hospitals will participate in the Zero Waste Seoul Project, which aims to reduce single-use items and expand the use of reusable cups and delivery containers. Cooperation will be promoted to reduce waste, such as using reusable cups in hospital cafes and reducing single-use items in affiliated funeral halls.

The city plans to hold regular meetings with general hospitals in the future and continuously reflect on-site opinions in policies to maintain cooperation. Furthermore, it will develop into a climate crisis response network involving various social actors such as universities and companies. Yoo Yeon-sik, Head of the Climate Environment Headquarters, said, “There are limits to efforts in the public sector alone to respond to the increasingly severe climate crisis, and active participation from various social actors such as companies, schools, and hospitals is urgently needed,” adding, “We will build a social network for carbon neutrality to respond to the climate crisis.”

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