[Yeouido Interview] 'Heavy Rain, Don't Move'... Jang Hye-young Prepares for This Year's 'Climate Audit' Again

Determined to Act as the Climate Crisis Situation Room
Strengthening Carbon-Related Financial Disclosure and More

Jang Hye-young, a Justice Party lawmaker, conducted last year's national audit as a 'climate audit.' Although she is not a member of the National Assembly's Environment and Labor Committee, Jang persistently questioned the Ministry of Economy and Finance and other financial authorities about solutions to the climate crisis. Jang explained, "After seeing three families perish in a semi-basement due to last year's heavy rain, I truly felt that things could not continue as they were," adding, "We really conducted the audit with the feeling of being in a situation room, making it a climate audit."

Previously, Jang actively addressed environmental issues, including proposing the 'Carbon Tax Act,' which would completely revise the current 'Transportation, Energy, and Environment Tax Act' to impose taxes on fossil fuels and allocate the revenue to achieve carbon neutrality and environmental conservation and improvement projects. Experiencing last summer's events heightened her awareness that the climate crisis threatens our daily lives, leading her to focus more on climate crisis issues in her legislative activities.

Political Desk Interview_Jang Hye-young, Justice Party Member. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Jang said, "The climate crisis has now become such a significant threat that it is called the 'Green Swan,' but the current state of South Korean politics in responding to this is either neglect or policies that worsen the situation, which made me think we need to intervene," adding, "The work done by the Budget and Accounts Committee involves discussing where to place emphasis in the macroeconomic national flow, and I judged that it is important for that flow to move in a direction that helps overcome the climate crisis."

In particular, she cited her criticism of financial public enterprises' response to the climate crisis as a major achievement in her legislative activities. During last year's audit, Jang criticized Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choo Kyung-ho, saying, "Among 17 financial public institutions, only three responded to Scope 3," and questioned, "Is it acceptable to neglect these financial public institutions that should be leading private sector changes but are lagging behind the times?"

The 'Scope 3' Jang mentioned is a type of carbon emission disclosure. Currently, companies classify direct carbon emissions as Scope 1, indirect emissions such as electricity used by the company as Scope 2, and all other indirect emissions caused by the company's activities as Scope 3. Jang explained, "Scope 3, also called financial emissions, looks at which industries the money from banks, finance, or investors flows into, and it is key in climate-related disclosures," adding, "Since it has already started in countries like the United States, we have no choice but to follow." She not only raised this issue during the audit but also conducted commissioned research and proposed a standard plan. Jang said, "To respond to the climate crisis era, we must naturally move to a time when we calculate how much carbon emissions our business generates," and explained, "We are currently in the process of creating that system."

Currently active in the Climate Crisis Special Committee, Jang stated, "I will continue the climate audit in this year's national audit," and predicted, "With the introduction of mechanisms like the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) in Europe, public interest will grow even more."

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