'Kidong Car' Free Admission Blocked by City Council... "Risk of Greenwashing and Reverse Discrimination"

Seoul City attempted to exempt admission fees to Seoul Grand Park and Seoul Botanical Garden for users of the Climate Companion Card, but the city council put a stop to the plan. The reason was concerns that the card could be simply lent out for free admission, and that it did not align with the card's original purpose of "greenhouse gas reduction."

According to the Seoul City Council on the 25th, the "Seoul Metropolitan City Urban Park Ordinance Amendment," which included free admission for Climate Companion Card holders, was deferred during the Environment and Water Resources Committee meeting on the 23rd. A professional committee member reviewed the amendment and stated, "The purpose of activating the Climate Companion Card is to effectively reduce traffic volume, but there could be cases where only admission fees are discounted at facilities that can only be accessed by private cars, resulting in a low correlation between admission fee reduction and traffic volume reduction." They added, "At this point, reducing park facility usage fees to increase card usage could be criticized as 'greenwashing.'" Furthermore, since the Climate Companion Card currently does not verify individual identity, there are concerns about confusion in applying admission fee exemptions to cases where the card is merely 'possessed.'

On the 26th, one day before the pilot operation of the 'Climate Companion Card,' the unlimited public transportation pass introduced nationwide for the first time by Seoul City, promotional flyers for the Climate Companion Card were posted at Gwanghwamun Station on Subway Line 5 in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jin-Hyung Kang aymsdream@

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There were also criticisms that the cost estimates related to the admission fee reduction were incorrect. Seoul City initially submitted a cost estimate of 3.234 billion KRW through an official document but later revised the cost for admission exemptions down to 450 million KRW. In the revised estimate, the city set the number of Climate Companion Card holders at the target issuance number of "500,000," but since about 1.08 million cards have already been sold, the assumption of a reduced number of exemption recipients was deemed a flawed premise for the cost estimate.

City council members, regardless of party affiliation, continued to raise concerns. Park Chun-seon, a member of the People Power Party, said, "I don't feel that exempting admission fees will effectively lead to carbon reduction," adding, "Most people come to Gwacheon Seoul Grand Park by car. I think there is a gap between providing benefits and actual carbon reduction efforts." Lee Young-sil, a member of the Democratic Party, argued, "People who walk or use personal bicycles are actually making more efforts to reduce carbon than Climate Companion Card users," claiming that granting admission fee exemptions to card users is an unfair reverse discrimination in terms of equity.

In response, Seoul City explained, "If the number of Climate Companion Card users increases, there will be a carbon reduction effect, and this policy was prepared to motivate more people to use the Climate Companion Card." They added, "There are also people who use public transportation to visit Seoul Grand Park and the Botanical Garden. We believe that just having the card can sufficiently motivate people since they can go to the park and see the zoo for free."

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