Changwon Special City Launches Full-Scale Effort to Become a Leading Carbon-Neutral City

Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Land Hold Review Meeting on Proposals for Carbon Neutral Leading City Contest Project

On the 8th, Changwon Special City in Gyeongnam held a ‘Carbon Neutral Leading City Contest Project Progress Report Meeting’ at the City Council’s main conference room, presided over by Deputy Mayor Cho Myungrae.

Jomyungrae, the Second Deputy Mayor, is presiding over the "Carbon Neutral Leading City Contest Project Promotion Meeting."

The ‘Carbon Neutral Leading City Contest Project’ is a joint contest by the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to select leading cities that will achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 by reducing and absorbing carbon emissions based on carbon-neutral technologies.

Targeting the 39 local governments selected as preliminary sites for carbon-neutral leading cities in December 2023, the contest invites proposals for private sector cooperation, government support, and new projects that can reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 150,000 tons. By October, two final cities will be selected, with the final proposals to be submitted by the end of July.

Changwon City was included as a preliminary site in December last year and is participating in this contest.

The evaluation criteria involve a document review to select 15 out of 39 sites, followed by on-site inspections and a presentation contest. The final two cities will be chosen based on a combined score: 50 points from the document review and 50 points from the presentation contest.

For the selected cities, the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will directly conduct a basic planning service with a budget of 600 million KRW (300 million KRW per city). The final project details and scale will be determined based on the results of this service.

In November 2023, Changwon City began the Net-Zero City Promotion Strategy service, which includes the proposal for this contest project and the establishment of the 2050 Changwon Carbon Neutral Plan, through the Carbon Neutral Support Center.

Accordingly, at the beginning of this year, Changwon City formed a Carbon Neutral City Task Force and, in collaboration and consultation with the Carbon Neutral Support Center and the service provider, is establishing a promotion strategy that includes practical and feasible reduction plans tailored to the city’s greenhouse gas emission characteristics. The city is making every effort to be selected as one of the final two cities in October this year.

This report meeting, presided over by Deputy Mayor Cho, was attended by the heads of relevant departments, the Carbon Neutral Support Center, and the service provider, where they reviewed the proposals and gathered opinions.

Deputy Mayor Cho stated, “In line with global trends, carbon neutrality is now a responsibility that industrial complexes and companies must fulfill, and it is an essential element to improve the quality of life for future generations and to protect ecosystems and climate systems. When submitting our proposal, we will actively work to ensure Changwon is selected as a ‘Carbon Neutral Leading City’ by discovering reduction projects tailored to our city’s industrial structure and presenting a direction for sustainable development.”

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